Fears over new transport policy

Claims have been made by councillors that the choice of school parents wish their children to attend will be restricted by a new home to school transport policy.

The draft policy was in front of Powys County Council’s Liberal Democrat/Labour Cabinet at a meeting on Monday, September 30 as it needed to be agreed now, so that it can be implemented by the start of the next school year in September 2025.

The main changes are around the introduction of school catchment area maps and clarifying when a pupil qualifies for transport.

The draft policy was provisionally approved by Cabinet at the end of July to allow a consultation to take place.

This consultation was held from August 9 to September 12 and just 131 responses were received.

The report explained that 55.3 per cent of respondents overall agreed to that changing the wording “nearest suitable school” to “catchment area school” made it easier to understand, but only 43 per cent agreed to the change.

Conservative group leader Cllr Aled Davies said: “This policy does not follow legislation, it’s not the council’s role to dictate what is best for our residents and children.”

He reminded cabinet that in October 2022 a motion was agreed by council asking for a new home to school transport policy to be drawn up that would support parental choice provided it would not cost more.

Cllr Davies explained that is some instances the nearest school for a child would not be the “catchment area” school and that this is very much the case for those who live on the border with other Welsh and English counties.

Cllr Davies said: “It does not talk about the potential of transport across boundaries, and legislation allows for that.

“This policy does not help parents make informed decision and should be binned.”

Head of legal services and monitoring officer Clive Pinney said: “The guidance from the Welsh Government clearly indicates that it’s for the council to set what it considers to be the nearest suitable school.

“Therefore, it is totally compliant with the legislation and the guidelines.”

Economy, Residents and Communities scrutiny committee chairwoman, Cllr Angela Davies said: “The report and presentation do rely heavily on the consultation replies.

“We need to be clear there was a very poor response to the consultation, it’s from a tiny pool of parents.

“Members at both sessions were very concerned about the timing and delivery of that consultation.

“While parents do retain the right to apply for their children to go to any school.

“In reality that requires transport.

“For those who live on the boundaries this would mean the time and distance travelled to school can increase significantly in some cases and we have to ask is that the right decision to take.”

Council leader, Liberal Democrat, Cllr James Gibson-Watt said: “The boundaries are clearly shown in the catchment maps.

“There’s no doubt that if your nearest school is not the catchment school then you will not be transported there.

“You can have a view if that’s fair or unfair, but that is the policy that’s been proposed.”

Passenger transport manager Sarah Layland-Morgan said: “Even if we had all the money in the world to spend on school transport, we don’t have the drivers of vehicles available to allow for such flexibility that I think is being requested in this policy.”

She stressed that the council has “discretionary arrangements” that can be applied.

Cabinet then moved to a vote and unanimously agreed the proposal.