When Cambridgeshire County Council announced earlier this year that it intended to withdraw the school bus which took Rampton children to the junior school in Cottenham parents were furious. The alternative is a 2 mile walk along a footpath immediately bordering the road which morning commuters from Willingham and the north use to drive into Cambridge.

The Council claimed to have verified that the route was safe for such young children to use despite its variable width and its use as a dual use cycle/footpath. Parents thought otherwise and mobilised opposition with a view to making their case at the Transport Appeals committee.

At the same time the Council had also advised of the withdrawal of the buses between Oakington and Girton and Impington Village College. Parents there took their case to the committee and their appeal was upheld.

 County Councillor David Jenkins, who had supported the Oakington/Girton appeal , then applied to the Council for the threat to the Rampton bus to be removed given this precendent. Then at last the Council saw sense and agreed to a reprieve. Rampton parents can breath again. Common sense has prevailed!