AM CALLS ON DEPUTY MINISTER TO STEP IN OVER SCHOOL TRANSPORT DEBATE IN TUMBLE

AM CALLS ON DEPUTY MINISTER TO STEP IN OVER SCHOOL TRANSPORT DEBATE IN TUMBLE

Plaid Cymru AM Helen Mary Jones has written to the Welsh Government’s Deputy Transport Minister asking Lee Waters to step in to help pupils in Tumble, and the wider Llanelli area who face a long walk to school following the cancellation of buses in January this year.

The move comes after another meeting of parents earlier this month in Tumble (Thursday 5 March 2020).

Plaid Cymru’s Shadow Minister for Economy, Tackling Poverty, and Transport, Helen Mary Jones said:

“The strength of feeling about the long distances children currently have to walk to Maes y Gwendraeth school was evident in the meetings I’ve held with parents and the emails I’ve received.

“I’ve written to the Deputy Transport Minister to ask for an urgent review of walk to school distances.

“As Plaid Cymru’s Shadow Transport Minister I have pledged my full support to the Deputy Minister if he agrees to bring forward emergency legislation to resolve the predicament that parents in the Tumble area and elsewhere in the Llanelli constituency find themselves in.

“I’ve committed to raising the matter with Plaid Cymru’s business manager, to review the Senedd’s timetable, to introduce legislation if needed.

“These days, with the level of traffic on the road and reduced public bus services outside big towns and cities it is no longer reasonable to expect parents to drive their children to school or for children as young as eleven to walk three miles.

“It is time for the Labour Welsh Government to look again at how we provide transport to get our children to school on time, safe, warm and comfortable. I believe the three mile rule needs to be reformed.”