School transport cuts come into force despite ongoing safety concerns

Nicholas Thomas Local Democracy Reporter

The removal of free school transport for hundreds of children across a Welsh county has taken effect this week, amid ongoing road safety concerns.

Caerphilly County Borough Council argues it will continue to comply with Welsh Government minimum standards even after stopping free buses for more than 300 secondary-aged pupils who live within three miles of their schools.

Independent consultants have deemed nine walking routes across the county borough as safe – but the council’s plans sparked an angry response from parents concerned about road safety, especially in bad weather and dark winter months.

At a council scrutiny committee meeting, opposition leader Cllr Charlotte Bishop said the policy shift “seems far more a cost-saving exercise than listening to our communities and the safeguarding concerns they’ve got”.

Budget papers show the council expected to save £266,000 by making the cuts, against a growing bill for wider school transport.

Infrastructure director Clive Campbell said school transport was “certainly” among the council’s financial pressures, and its budget had grown from £6 million to over £13 million in recent years.

“That’s because we are trying to maintain the service to serve all the pupils that… qualify,” he said. “The council certainly isn’t shirking its responsibilities, but it’s costing us a substantial amount of money.”

The committee heard transport services for pupils who have additional learning needs (ALN) “represent almost half the budget”, and a report shows a current forecasted overspend of £676,000 this year is being “driven by contract inflation and increased ALN transport requirements, including additional capacity for Trinity Fields School and specialist resource bases”.

The council is setting up those resource bases at several borough schools, to provide ALN support for pupils within mainstream settings. No cuts to transport for ALN pupils have been proposed.

Mr Campbell added the existing offer in Caerphilly was “the most generous policy and provision across Wales”.

But Cllr Bishop said comparing the borough to other parts of Wales was “a flimsy excuse” for cuts.

“I don’t care about other areas – I care about Caerphilly,” she said.

Cllr Bishop, whose Aber Valley ward is affected by the school transport cuts, pressed for details on the assessments which led to the routes being declared safe.

“How often did these independent people go out?” she asked. “What weather did they go out in? Was it in different seasons? Which time of the day?”

She told the committee the assessments “certainly should have been looking from the eyes of an 11-year-old child, for safeguarding, and not a grown adult”.

Mr Campbell said all routes across the borough were “risk-assessed and reviewed” by two independent professional consultants “on at least two occasions”.

“They were done at the times – that’s both AM and PM – that pupils would travel,” he said. “There were observations undertaken, analysis of traffic volumes and flows.”

He added: “I’m sure parents and members will have their own views and perceptions about what is safe or unsafe, but this was assessed against the minimum benchmark the Welsh Government sets out.”

Mr Campbell said the removal of free transport for pupils along those routes, and within three miles of their secondary schools, ensured “a fair and consistent” policy across the borough.

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