Councillors join forces to block transport policy

A spanner has been thrown into the works of implementing a new home to school transport policy in Powys as opposition groups join forces to try and block the decision.

On Monday, September Powys County Council’s Liberal Democrat/Labour Cabinet unanimously voted for the updated policy and in doing so ignored arguments from opposition group leaders to delay the process.

Cabinet had been told by senior staff that the policy needed to be agreed 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.

Now, Powys Independents and Conservative group have formally requested for the decision to be “called in” for more consideration.

Under the council’s constitution implementation of all decisions by the Cabinet is delayed five days later to allow for the issue to be “called in” to a scrutiny committee.

The call in request has been signed by Powys Independents joint leader, Cllr Beverley Baynham along with group members Cllrs Graham Breeze, Bryan Davies, and Gareth E. Jones.

Conservative group leader Cllr Aled Davies along with his group members Cllrs Lucy Roberts and John Yeomans also signed the request.

Powys Independents and Conservative group have issued a joint statement which said: “The seven councillors claim the decision is contrary to the policy framework of the council’s commitment to Zero Carbon by 2030.

“They claim the Cabinet failed to take into account legal obligations and statutory guidance set out by the Local Government Association (LGA) in the Gunning Principles which included adequate consultation with all stakeholders such as schools, governors, parents, carers and pupils.”

The statement continues: “It is also claimed that the Cabinet failed to take into account legal obligations in respect of transporting pupils to their nearest school, even when outside the prescribed catchment area.”

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

The 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 that changing the wording from “nearest suitable school” to “catchment area school” made it easier to understand, but only 43 per cent agreed to the change.

On Monday, when by challenged around the legality of the decision by Cllr Davies, head of legal 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.”

Passenger transport manager Sarah Leyland-Morgan also told the meeting: “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.”