Issue - meetings

At its meeting of 26 July 2018 the Executive considered a report relating to the School Crossing Patrol Service – Consultation Report 2018 and resolved that:

1)     WBC continue with its proposal to provide safe, permanent crossings at the seven locations that currently have a school crossing patroller, and, following their installation, remove the school crossing patrol service once the permanent crossings are complete as set out in Option 2, Appendix 1 of the report;

2)    all affected schools are reminded that they have access to the Council’s road safety and My Journey teams who can facilitate further road safety training for pupils if requested.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, five non-Executive Members of the Council submitted a formal notice “calling in” the Executive decision to remove the School Crossing Patrol service from seven sites across the Borough once permanent crossing facilities were installed.

The decision was called in on the following grounds:

1)     The decision has contravened Section 1.4.2 a) of the Council’s Constitution, in that the action being proposed is not proportionate to the desired outcome.

a)     A blanket decision has been made to replace all remaining School Crossing Patrols (SCP) with pedestrian crossings, despite the different characteristics and requirements of the locations.

b)     The desired outcome appears to be to save money yet the costs both of the crossings and the school crossing patrol have not been fully or correctly stated. None of the other options quoted had any costs provided.

c)      The decision was made on the basis of costs for crossings which have not yet been designed – as a redesign is taking place at four sites due to the first design not being suitable; it is therefore unclear whether a crossing is actually the right answer for those locations, as well as the costs being unknown.

2)     The decision has contravened Section 1.4.2 b) of the Council’s Constitution, in that due consultation and the taking of professional advice from Officers has not occurred.

a)     The consultation was not complete at the point at which the decisions to withdraw the service were made.

b)     The consultation was not carried out at an early stage, and was not meaningful, and contravened the Council’s own rules on consultation.

c)      There was no consultation with ward Members on the withdrawal of the service.

d)     The replacement crossings were designed without reference to ward Members and before the consultation was carried out – and ward Members were not even informed until mid-July that the crossings had been designed.

e)     Wokingham Town Council’s consultation response has not been taken into consideration.

f)       Letters putting the staff at risk of redundancy were issued before the consultation was concluded.

g)     The Council’s responses to the points made by respondents are inadequate.

h)     At least one crossing was scheduled to be installed before the decision on the outcome of the consultation took place.

i)       At least one safety audit was done during the school holidays.

j)       No Equality Impact Assessments accompanied the  ...  view the full agenda text for item 45

That:

1)        having considered and taken into account the findings and recommendations of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee the Executive confirmed its decision of 26 July 2018.  That:

a)        WBC continue with its proposal to provide safe, permanent crossings at the seven locations that currently have a school crossing patroller, and, following their installation, remove the school crossing patrol service once the permanent crossings are complete as set out in Option 2, Appendix 1 of the report;

b)        all affected schools be reminded that they have access to the Council’s road safety and My Journey teams who can facilitate further road safety training for pupils if requested.

2)        the comments made by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee be noted.

The Executive considered recommendations from the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee who met on 3 September 2018 to consider the ‘call-in’ of the Executive decision relating to the item entitled School Crossing Patrol Service – Consultation Report 2018 which was approved at the Executive meeting held on 26 July 2018 with the following recommendations:

“RESOLVED that:

1)        WBC continue with its proposal to provide safe, permanent crossings at the seven locations that currently have a school crossing patroller, and, following their installation, remove the school crossing patrol service once the permanent crossings are complete as set out in Option 2, Appendix 1 of the report;

2)        all affected schools be reminded that they have access to the Council’s road safety and My Journey teams who can facilitate further road safety training for pupils if requested.”

The Leader of Council thanked all the questioners, representatives from schools and the school crossing patrollers who had taken the time and effort to be part of the process and the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee for their consideration of the decision.  Councillor Haitham Taylor also thanked Councillor Pollock for the time he had spent on the matter, including visiting the different sites.

The Leader of Council invited the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee, Parry Batth, to present the findings and recommendations of the Committee.  The reasons for the ‘call-in’, as set out in the Agenda, were considered at the Management Committee meeting held on 3 September 2018.  A number of witnesses attended the meeting and gave evidence following which the Management Committee considered its findings and agreed the following resolution:

“RESOLVED That:

1)        the Executive be requested to review their 26 July 2018 decision on the School Crossing Patrol Service in light of the evidence presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee;

2)        the request to the Executive for a review is based on the following reasons:

a)      the original 2015 decision to remove the School Crossing Patrol Service was taken prior to the consultation, and, with the substantive decision having been taken, subsequent consultation exercises were not seen as meaningful;

b)      the original 2015 decision was taken without an underpinning business case and the 26 July 2018 Executive report did not contain detailed information showing the current costs of the service and the full financial implications relating to the proposed implementation, maintenance and future replacement of the new permanent crossing facilities;

c)      the original 2015 decision was taken without an underpinning Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) and the subsequent April 2018 EIA did not contain detailed information about consultation with specific groups and did not reflect the individual circumstances relating to each of the proposed crossing sites.”

In presenting the recommendations, Councillor Batth clarified that the purpose of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee was not to challenge the decision made by the Executive but was to scrutinise the procedures and processes used by the Executive to make the decision. 

Councillor Batth highlighted that the Committee had felt that the Executive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45