Disappointment at way in which Cheshire West and Chester faith school’s transport decision was reached

STAFF, governors and parents at Bishops’ High believe last week’s meeting of Cheshire West and Chester Council’s executive, which voted to remove subsidised travel to faith schools, was ‘a sad day for democracy’.

They say they were ‘very disappointed’ not only with the outcome but also in the way the decision was reached.

Bishop’s head Justin Blakebrough pointed out the meeting started ‘with a range of contributions from the public and a number of councillors’.

“A lot of very good points were made but it was interesting to see that, in general, the councillors from the Executive didn’t participate in the first part of the meeting and so there was no real debate as such.

“Only once the time for views from the public and other councillors had finished did the six Conservative councillors make their own views known, but at this point there was no opportunity given for discussion.

“These opinions were all in support of the council proposals and did not seem to take into account any of the points made in the first part of the meeting or the results of the consultation.

“They were then asked to vote on the council proposals and all six Conservative councillors voted unanimouslyin favour of the council proposals and that was the end of the matter”.

Mr Blakebrough added: “The views expressed by the six councillors did not seem to reflect or take into account the points made at the start of the meeting or the point raised in the consultation.”

He believes the consultation may have been ‘a waste of public money’.

John Murray, headteacher at Chester Catholic High, said:“The council executive rejected a phased approach on the basis that it would cost more than £1m. They slid over the fact that this is deferring the saving rather than ‘costing’ extra money.

“They were asked specifically about protecting students who are about to start Year 10 and ignored the question”.

Referring to what he believed had been ‘party point scoring’, Mr Murray said: “It has nothing to do with the tearful mum I spoke to this morning who now has to decide which school her 12-year-old will have to move to as she can’t afford the fare to St Nicholas’ from September 2012.”