Parents' fury amid 'council cover up' claims over 'stupid' new school bus rules

-Credit:LDRS
-Credit:LDRS


Furious parents claim a Yorkshire council is orchestrating a "cover up" over controversial school transport changes.

North Yorkshire Council has changed its free school transport policy so children will only be taken to their nearest school. The council say it will help save £4.8m - but critics have said it is short-sighted.

The new rules mean that for some children living in the Yorkshire Dales, they can get free transport to schools in Cumbria or County Durham - but not in the Leyburn and Richmond areas, despite those schools traditionally being attended by children in those communities.

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Among the schools affected is Settle College, where leaders have expressed concerns that these changes could cost the school £300,000 annually and result in job losses. It is also understood that governors at Richmond School are worried about the financial implications.

A meeting had been called to discuss the new policy on Monday, January 27 after a petition gathered more than 2,000 signatures calling for a return to a 'catchment system' for free school transport. However, this meeting was halted amid angry claims council bosses were staging a "cover up".

It comes as the School Transport Action Group (STAG) reported the council to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for failing to release a report on the impact of the changes on schools.. The report assesses the possible impact of the policy changes on shools and was prepared before councillors voted on the new policy last July.

Settle College -Credit:Google
Settle College -Credit:Google

But it was not shown to all councillors and has not been released to the public.

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STAG, which formed to fight the changes, says is submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the council on November 27 requesting the report - but has not yet had a response. A spokesperson for the group said: “This policy could result in some smaller primary schools facing closure and leave secondary schools being forced to cut jobs and shrink the curriculum as budgets reduce.

“The public has a right to know what the fallout will be from this policy change.

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“Not only is this being withheld from all of us, it’s also being withheld from councillors who were not given this information when they voted the change through last July.

“How on earth can they claim to have made an informed decision when they were kept in the dark on the harm it will do to our schools?”

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Council documents released in July last year confirmed that a study was conducted "to avoid any unintended consequences including risk to small school viability, where a small reduction in pupil numbers can be a significant factor".

County Hall in Northallerton -Credit:LDRS
County Hall in Northallerton -Credit:LDRS

Councillor Annabel Wilkinson, who holds the portfolio for education, learning and skills, received the findings.

The council also shared tailored information with individual schools regarding the potential impact of the proposed changes on their operations. On making the report public, the document said: "The council does not consider this indicative school-level data set essential to the consultation process.

"This information has been treated confidentially as we believe sharing it would prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs in the council's discussions with schools."

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Before Monday's meeting was halted, several parents and school governors spoke about how the changes would affect them. Among them was Brenda Price, chair of the governors at Reeth and Gunnerside schools, who said the 13 pupils in their current year six would be divided among five different schools - Richmond, Wensleydale, Risedale, Teesdale and Kirkby Stephen - under the new rules.

She said: "The community that we nurtured for the previous seven years would be shattered."

"Many of these children live in isolated locations so school, and their transport to and from school, is their social hub."

Reeth Community Primary School -Credit:Google
Reeth Community Primary School -Credit:Google

Mrs Price remarked that parents faced a "Hobson's choice". She said: "Although there is free choice, practically only one thing is being offered - to apply to a school they know their child can be transported to safely."

Reeth and Gunnerside Schools headteacher Gordon Stainsby previously told a meeting of the council's Richmond area committee that none of his students were now eligible for free transportation to Richmond School and he criticised the council for calculating children’s nearest schools using footpaths rather than roads. He said: "In a region where there are very few roads and with many of them unsuitable for a school bus in winter, relying on the footpath network is particularly unhelpful, even stupid."

Parent Linda Rudkin from The Dales spoke up about how the modifications in costs could result in the loss of up to 140 pupils at Richmond School, potentially leading to 10 teachers being let go due to an expected decrease in funding. She questioned councillors about their knowledge of the policy's local impact and pressed, "What school impact data do you have that you are not releasing following our requests to the Freedom of Information team? What are you trying to hide? "

Carol Livingstone, another concerned parent, warned that the policy could have long-lasting adverse effects across the county without realising any savings for the council. She implored the councillors to revert to a catchment area system this year, asserting: "If you think that thousands of parents like us are going to sit quietly for two years whilst you experiment to see if there are any savings, causing disruption to our families and ruining schools then I'm sorry but you are sorely mistaken."

Upon listening to residents, Richmond councillor Stuart Parsons recommended a postponement, noting that councillors would struggle to properly discuss the matter without complete information. He said: "Why has the council not sent the information because it clearly smells of a cover-up and yet another smoke screen?

"If they're happy with what they've been trying to tell us, they should have had no difficulty supplying the information requested and no difficulty responding to the Freedom of Information request, and yet they can't."

In a display of cross-party consensus, councillors supported the motion to defer, with some Conservative members of the Tory-led authority aligning with their peers from different parties to bring the meeting at County Hall in Northallerton to a halt.

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