North Lanarkshire leader's "stark reality" over school bus cuts

North Lanarkshire Council leader Jim Logue says a U-turn on school bus cuts would have to be funded by reducing other elements of the education budget and that the cash-strapped authority must "focus on the language of priorities".

Members are set to vote again next week on the plans to reduce free transport eligibility for secondary pupils at the end of this term, with the SNP group proposing that underspent funds to be used to postpone the plans for a year - while the Labour administration are instead reiterating their call for the Scottish Government to pay while reviewing national guidance on distance limits and walking safety route criteria.

Councillor Logue says the authority will face a £100 million funding gap by 2029-2030 and has accused the opposition of "political opportunism and financial naivete"; but the SNP group hit back over the "red line" issue, saying they have fully-costed plans to retain the provision and calling the Labour amendment "galling and an insult to the electorate".

North Lanarkshire will increase the qualifying distance for free school transport from its current enhanced two miles to the statutory requirement of three miles from August for secondary pupils, with the equivalent for primary pupils going from one mile to two 12 months later - saving a total of £3.6m per year and bringing the authority in line with provision in the majority of council areas across Scotland.

The council leader told Lanarkshire Live: "If the motion were to be accepted, the money [for] enhanced provision would have to come from the education budget - the SNP need to be honest with parents and identify from which cost codes [this] would be found.

"Would it come from reducing classroom teachers as Glasgow is proposing for next year, reducing additional support needs provision, classroom assistants, clerical support or provision for head teachers to provide curriculum aids and materials? These are the only service areas from which funding could be sourced.

"That is the stark reality facing all councillors. The ask is that the council use underfunded non-recurring monies to maintain the current transport arrangements at a cost of over £3m for 2023-24, whilst recognising that there are no identified budgets for the following years; this amounts to no more than a temporary pause."

Councillor Logue last week wrote to deputy first minister Kate Forbes noting families' "understandable concerns" about safety and called for a review of both the nationally-defined route assessment and distance criteria "given increasing traffic levels, rising levels of poverty and the environmental consequences of more vehicles being on the road", and for the Scottish Government to fund the continued enhanced provision.

His group's amendment to the SNP motion for next week's council meeting notes the "urgent action" requested from Holyrood and otherwise calls for any available underspent funds to be used to plug "the ever-increasing gaps in future years’ budgets" - saying: "The proposed cuts for the next five financial years are now so deep and damaging that [the school transport reduction] is unavoidable."

SNP leader Councillor Tracy Carragher responded: "It’s astounding that they are still not willing to own up to this debacle - they are trying to pull the wool over voters’ eyes, but it is obvious that they have made choices which are not just deeply unpopular, but parents believe could prove dangerous for our young people."

The opposition group criticised Labour's amendment "blaming the Scottish Government" and noted "mounting pressure to backtrack" on the administration - and have previously told how they are are "100 per cent committed to fully funding the current provision until at least the end of this council term” in 2027.

Education spokesperson Councillor Allan Stubbs added: “North Lanarkshire Labour are determined to continue making cuts within education – closing Kilbowie, cutting Club 365, ceasing Primary Five swimming lessons, making nursery more expensive; changing school transport is just another devastating cut to add to the list of destruction."

The three- and two-mile policy - which was previously agreed and then abandoned in 2017 following public pressure - has again attracted huge opposition from impacted families who have staged walks, demonstrations and public meetings highlighting their concerns about the safety of pedestrian routes and the distances faced by youngsters to reach classes.

North Lanarkshire school transport action group responded to the administration's letter to the Scottish Government by querying the safety of approved walking routes including the Monkland canal footpath and called for councillors to support the motion to pause the plan in the year ahead, saying: "We believe that this will provide the necessary breathing space to find a solution to the recurring funding issue and to allow proper evaluation of walking routes."

The group wrote to Councillor Logue: "If you do not vote for the motion, parents and carers of impacted children will conclude that the letter [to the Scottish government] was not made in good faith. Our children's safety is non-negotiable."

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