Henlow school forced to close says it felt 'forgotten' due to gritting ‘delay’

A school has hit out at Central Beds Council after it failed to grit a key access road – leaving it feeling ‘forgotten’ and forced to make emergency plans for children’s Christmas dinner.

Henlow Church of England Academy, Church Road, was forced to close on Monday, December 12, and Wednesday, December 14, due to the cold snap, with villagers claiming that Central Beds Council (CBC) took "too long" to come to the school's aid.

And the school said that while Monday's closure was "far less predictable” due to the sudden snow on Sunday, it thought that Wednesday's closure could have been avoided.

CBC told the Chronicle that Church Road is not on its priority list; however, following feedback, it decided to grit the road "so that the school could open safely.”

The absence of grit even threatened the academy's Christmas meal plans, so it had to organise an "emergency delivery" with the food company so it could go ahead as planned. However, despite the difficulties, the school was still able to hold its end-of-term Christmas assembly, celebrating the students' successes.

A spokesman for Henlow Church of England Academy, said: "[We felt] unnecessarily forgotten. It seems obvious, following the various lockdowns and closures of the last few years, that we should be doing all that we can to keep schools open. Gritting access roads to schools feels like a sensible undertaking.

"The gritter guys do an amazing job but follow the instructions they are given. We appreciate that there is a cost to additional gritting, [but] the impact of a school closure for the wider community also brings with it a cost."

They explained: "The issues were wholly connected to the access to the site due to the lack of gritting on Church Road, which was exacerbated by the three-way traffic lights at the mini roundabout at the end of the road. This led to lengthy delays for parents and carers trying to access the site, and far more stopping and starting on the ice.

"Despite communication with the local authority on Tuesday to explore the possibility of gritting, we had to take the difficult decision not to open on Wednesday in light of the disruption and risk that we saw at the start and end of the day. We believe that it was gritted once on Tuesday evening, after parents, carers and local residents complained to the local authority. This may have only been on one side, as on Wednesday morning Church Road was still hazardous."

A Central Bedfordshire Council spokesperson said: “Like all local authorities, we prioritise gritting on a risk basis, so we focus on roads and particularly those that carry the highest volumes of traffic, have the greatest risk of accidents, or are key access routes. In total, just under half of the roads in Central Bedfordshire are gritted every time we carry out a gritting run.

“Church Road is not on our Priority List, although we do grit the main roads in Henlow. On this occasion following feedback from the school and noting how bad the weather and icy conditions were, we decided to grit the road so that the school could open safely.”