To all the people that originally signed the petition of extending
the Freedom Pass to 16-19 year olds. I need your
help once again.
I do not know if you are aware but the
KCC recently had a meeting and have again decided NOT to include the 16-19 year
olds within the £200 a year Freedom
Pass scheme.
However, I have been contacted by a Lib Dem councillor for
Maidstone Central, namely Rob Bird, who would like to help our campaign by
trying to make the KCC listen and extend this Freedom Pass.
Mr Bird needs our help because we now have to set up a new petition on the KCC
website and get 10,000 signatures or more before 13th March 2014 to get our
campaign heard at the next meeting.
The NEW petition can be found here:https://democracy.kent.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=266&RPID=6657727&HPID=6657727 and please please please sign the new
petition.
Lets not let the KCC get away with excluding the 16-19 year olds
again, let our voices be heard. The wording of the petition is as follows:
Bring down the cost of the proposed Young Person’s Travel Pass
for those aged 16-19 to the same level as the proposed Travel Pass
for 11-16 year olds. With the raising of the school participation age, young
people will be obliged to remain in school, college training or apprenticeships
until they are 19. They often have to travel significant distances to get to
the school or college with the most appropriate course for their needs, but the
proposed annual charge of £400 for the Kent 16+Travel Card is simply
unaffordable for many. We therefore call upon Kent County Council to extend the
proposed Young Person’s Travel
Pass scheme to include
16-19 year-olds for the same annual cost of £200. We also request that the
annual charge for under16s entitled to free school meals remains at £50.
So campaigners, we have come this far with over 20,000 signatures
on the 38 Degrees petition, so now lets do the same on the KCC website.
Thank you again for your support.
Lynne Miller