PLANS that would have seen school pupils in Hook faced with a walk to school over dangerous roads and dark woodland have been shelved.

As previously reported in the Gazette, Hampshire County Council had previously been consulting on plans that would see changes to the criteria of how the distance between homes and the school is calculated.

It would have seen hundreds of pupils faced with an hour-long walk from their homes in Hook to Robert May's School in Odiham through dark woodland and over busy roads, on routes that parents had called unsuitable, despite pledges from Hampshire County Council to make the route safer.

Now, the council have announced that these plans have been shelved because of parents' concerns and also a potential objection from an "external stakeholder" on the basis that the route would go through the Bartley Heath Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

However, HCC said that they will continue to lobby the government for changes to laws which determine eligibility for transport, whilst saying the money could be made by taking resources from "the county's most vulnerable children".

Announcing the delay, Councillor Patricia Stallard, HCC's Executive Lead Member for Children's Services and Young People, said: "We have listened to the feedback to our proposal from parents, carers stakeholders and the wider local community.

"Additionally, it has also become evident that an external stakeholder in the project has indicated that they would now oppose the proposals, on the basis that the route improvements would be in conflict with the Heath’s status as a Site of Special Scientific Interest."

As part of the consultations on the new plans, a number of drop-in sessions were held in the village, some of which turned heated.

One parent, Sophie Miller, whose daughter Daisy would be one of those affected when she moves up to Robert May's School in 2021, said that she was delighted at the news.

"Everyone has been celebrating it online and there is a bit of scepticism that this doesn't seem quite right. On the whole it is a fantastic decision.

"From a parent's point of view, none of us could quite understand how they thought it was a safe route. It was ridiculous what they were proposing.

"There has been an awful lot of community support, not just from people with kids that might be affected."

Cllr Stallard continued: "We have concluded that, at this time, it would not be the right thing to do to pursue the proposals especially given the potential cost to the public purse in fighting a legal action.

"However, we must ensure that the savings required of the County Council can still be met to fulfil our legal obligation to deliver a balanced budget by 2021.

"This means that, across Children’s Services, savings still need to be found and the approximate £250,000 per year savings, that could have been generated by replacing the Local Authority funded home to school transport with a walking route, will now, regrettably, have to be found from other areas, including services for the county’s most vulnerable children.

“The County Council will be strongly lobbying government for an urgent reform to the laws which determine eligibility for Home to School Transport. Under the current legislation Hampshire County Council is required to subsidise free Home to School Transport to the tune of £32 million per year – a sum that far exceeds the amount that the Council is able to spend on social workers, specialist support for schools and other priorities.

"In many cases this transport subsidy is to families that could well afford to pay for bus fares. Much of this money could be better used to support vulnerable children and the council will continue to press government hard for urgent reform.”

This response angered Sophie and a number of other parents. "People are disappointed with their response making it seem that it is our fault.

"What they were proposing isn't safe, that isn't our fault. We were all worried about it."

It comes a day after the Gazette reported how parents felt their views weren't being listened to, after Steve Crocker OBE, director of children's services at HCC, asked for a "standard response" to a parent's concerns over the route.