School transport changes delayed over road safety concerns

Nicholas Thomas, local democracy reporter

A local authority has delayed plans to cut school transport services because councillors say they need more road safety information.

Assessments of each school route should be carried out before councillors in Caerphilly debate the plans, Cllr Roy Saralis told colleagues at a meeting on Thursday January 23.

Caerphilly County Borough Council has proposed increasing the minimum distance children must live from their school if they are to qualify for free transport.

It means primary-age children could have to walk two miles to school – and for secondary-age pupils, the minimum distance could be raised to three miles.

The council says it is one of only three in Wales which provide home-to-school transport that is more generous than the statutory minimum.

Funding gap

It also claims it is facing a “huge” funding gap, and will overspend by around £2 million on providing the current level of service this year.

Hundreds of people who responded to a recent public consultation, however, said the proposed changes would impact directly on them or their children.

Nearly half of the people who took this view also said they would have to rely on a car if bus services were cut.

At a meeting of the council’s joint scrutiny committee, on Thursday January 23, backbenchers were asked to give their views on the proposals.

The council has suggested it either does nothing, proceeds with the original proposals, or in a third option maintains the current policy for primary schools but increases the minimum distance for secondary schools to three miles.

In each case, transport provision for children with additional learning needs would not change, councillors were told.

Sue Richards, the council’s head of education planning, said if councillors backed any changes, officers will then assess each school route for road safety – and the council may continue to provide free transport along any routes deemed unsafe.

‘Unwise’

However, Cllr Saralis said it would be “unwise” for committee members to provide their views on the three options “until we know these routes are safe”.

The committee chairman, Cllr Gary Johnston, said this was a “valid point” and called a vote, in which a majority of members backed Cllr Saralis’ request for “a full report on whether these routes are safe”.

Interim chief executive Dave Street advised the committee this work “doesn’t get done for free”.

But Cllr Johnston said “the safety of our children is worth the cost” involved in the assessments.