Canal path deemed safe school route in 'mix-up'

Shropshire Council is expected to backtrack on its suggestion to parents that a canal towpath afforded a safe walking route to school, with free school transport pulled as a result.

The council wrote to parents in Weston Rhyn to inform them that free transport to St Martin's School would be stopped for new pupils as "a new alternative walking route" had been identified.

It followed a report by external consultants which suggested accompanied children could walk 1.2 miles (2km) along the Shropshire Union Canal to get to class. The report also found the path to be "unlit", with "potential trip hazards".

Council leader Heather Kidd said she was "horrified" by the letter and blamed a mix-up.

She said she would seek to have the decision cancelled.

The letter drafted by council officers was sent to parents last week without political oversight.

The matter, Kidd said, "had slipped through the net". She added processes would have to change to avoid it happening again.

Children in Weston Rhyn have been provided with free bus transport for almost 40 years to avoid them having to cross a busy roundabout on the A5, which sits between the village and St Martin's.

Until the letter, routes between the two had been considered unsafe for children walking to school.

The council changed its Unsafe Walking Routes Policy in 2023 and assumed parents would find alternative transport if they could not accompany their child on a route considered "reasonably safe" by the authority, including canal towpaths.

External consultancy firm WSP conducted two assessments of the canal route linking Weston Rhyn and St Martin's in February at the request of Shropshire Council.

Its findings were undertaken in accordance with Shropshire Council's latest guidance.

Kidd, who has led Shropshire Council since May, said: "As a mum and grandmother, a canal towpath is certainly not a reasonable route to school and I really, really wouldn't be using it."

She said the decision could not be formally scrapped until the "proper process" had been followed, but "my strong feeling as leader of the council is that this is not a safe route".

Local Reform UK councillor Carl Rowley said he was angry over what had happened.

"How can this possibly be considered safe?" he said.

"We are talking about young children walking along a narrow, unlit canal edge, often alone, away from the public eye, with a very real risk of falling into deep water.

"Many children in our community cannot swim. This is beyond unacceptable.

"There is no passive surveillance, no lighting, no protective barrier, and no way for a child to get help if something goes wrong," he added.

St Martin's School has about 700 pupils and is known as a "through school," which means it provides education for children from reception to Year 11.

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