Safe Walking Routes to School - Kennington/Radley

The field and path are liable to severe flooding. Perhaps the council could give piggy-backs.

This route is not safe. When the river is in flood the footpath cannot be used. Grazing cattle in the summer months have a proven track record of aggressive behaviour. Most of the route is unlit and given the uneven ground and soft river banks is very hazardous during the dark winter months.

The footpath along the river would be unsafe to use in the winter months, as it is unlit and liable to flood.

dread to think how many youngsters might get "lost" when there is a bit of mucking about on the tow path !!!!!! very stupid idea an some idiots part.

There's no way people will walk that route when they don't even walk 500m using a pavement. More cars at rush hour, more parking on pavements, more near misses as kids take risks through traffic.

A few years ago, walking along the river to school was deemed as unsafe by OCC for secondary school children. Nothing has changed. Walking across the meadow or by the river in winter when it's flooded and you can't see the path, how is that safe? Ludicrous yet again.

Crazy and very. Dangerous

Children's safety should be paramount. Common sense needs to prevail.

How on earth has OCC decided that this is a safe route for children to walk to school or for a lone parent to walk back in the winter darkness? The towpath in places is less than 120cm wide. The time at which the children would have to walk along the towpath is a busy time for cyclists who tend to ride very fast along this route. (I have been sworn at myself for not moving out of the way of a fast cyclist) The river floods regularly at odd times over the bank on to the path that children are expected to walk along, not only during the winter months Vagrants sleep in the copse that can be seen from the bridge on the ring road that goes over the river. I am not saying that all vagrants are a danger to children, but a child seeing a rough sleeper in the cops would be very concerned and could fall in the river when running away from a perceived threat. I would also like to remind the council that in the last few years there have been two attacks on females walking along this path. So would I let my children walk this way to school? Of course not. I would take them in the car along the ring road causing more congestion, and pollution during the rush hour. A ridicules idea that should be reconsidered.

Hope some common sense is used.

Show some common sense Oxfordshire county council. Would you let your child walk this route, NO. For all the reasons that have been stated above. If village schools prioritised village children this wouldn't even be necessary. It's madness that children are walking/driving from other villages to the Kennington school, and then Kennington children are doing the reverse!

Vital that children have a safe route to school.

The proposed route is clearly not safe for schoolchildren of any age. Railway and river crossings and water meadow footpaths are not safe, and the latter often impassable at some times of year. The County Council must think again about these school allocations.

If common sense came into this, you would realise that the water meadows and the towpath can in no way be considered a safe walking route for primary school children or indeed any child of school age. Are we to assume that the county council will provide scuba diving equipment for them as it may come as a surprise , but the water meadows flood in times of high rainfall, hence the name. As a village school, should the children of Kennington not get first places at the school. If less children were brought in from outside the village it would also relieve the massive disruption to traffic caused by the outside children being driven to Kennington.

This is not a safe route.

I am horrified to think that OCC could consider this route next to the river as a safe route for primary school age children, whether or not accompanied by adults. It would be dark in the Winter months and liable to flooding, when the path would be impossible to navigate. There are also often animals grazing the water meadows

Would support safe walking to school and 20 mph speed limit

This route is impassible through periods of the school year and should not be used on that basis. The route is dark and unlit and the immediate proximity to water with no barriers makes the route unsafe and highly unsuitable as regular walking route with young children.

The river often floods during winter so the route is no longer valid.

There IS no path in the winter, it's just flood water.