PARENTS say that they feel that Hampshire County Council are not listening to their concerns after it has emerged that a high-ranking officer asked for a “standard response” to one parent’s email.

As previously reported in the Gazette, HCC are considering cutting bus routes from Hook to Robert May’s School in Odiham.

They plan on creating a walking route through Bartley Heath, across the M3 footbridge and over the A287 - although parents have claimed that these proposals are unsuitable for children to use whilst it is dark and during poor weather. After the recent rainfall, parts of the route are currently underwater.

Now, one parent says she feels that the county council aren’t taking their concerns seriously after seeing the response given to a fellow parent from Steve Crocker OBE, Director of Children’s Services at HCC.

Sophie Miller, whose daughter Daisy is currently in Year 5 at Hook Junior School and will be attending Robert May’s in 2021, told the Gazette: “There is an increasing feeling that nobody is listening to our comments.

“The thought of my daughter walking all the way through that wood without lighting and through knee-deep water, I just can’t imagine her doing it.”

She also said that the shortest route for Daisy would be to walk over the busy motorway junction.

Sophie continued: “I don’t know enough about where they are looking and I appreciate they have to make the budgets cuts. They keep telling us they are considering the safety of our children but I don’t think they are.

“I have no idea (what she will do should the buses be cut). My husband is a paramedic and I work at a University so I really don’t know what is going to happen.”

Mr Crocker said: “I can assure parents that we are taking their concerns extremely seriously and would like to stress that their views on the proposed Hook to Robert May’s School walking route most certainly will be taken into account in the decision making process.

“Understandably, we are receiving a high volume of email correspondence on this matter with people expressing the same or very similar concerns.

“Ideally, we would wish to respond individually but, with rising demand for our services in looking after and protecting vulnerable children and their families, we do not have the resources available to do so.

“That said, we have stated in our response, and at public information events held to date, that all correspondence will be provided to those Members of the County Council who will be involved in making any final decision about the proposed walking route, as well as all those responsible for scrutiny of the proposal and any decision made.”