Senior councillors back plans to reduce school transport service

Nicholas Thomas, local democracy reporter

Senior councillors will push ahead with a consultation on plans to reduce expenditure on home-to-school transport.

The changes could see some pupils walking nearly three miles to get to their lessons, in a cost-cutting exercise designed to save £1.5 million a year.

At a Caerphilly County Borough Council cabinet meeting on Wednesday July 24, Cllr Nigel George said the local authority “currently provides a high level of discretionary transport, well above the statutory requirements”.

Currently, pupils in primary education qualify for free transport if they live more than 1.5 miles away from their school – but this could increase to two miles.

For pupils in secondary education, they currently qualify for free transport if they live more than two miles away from their school – but the council has proposed raising this to three miles.

Pupils with additional learning needs will not be affected by any changes, cabinet members heard during the meeting.

Save money

At the heart of the council’s proposal is an attempt to save money, and the service is expected to have cost £1.4m more than was originally budgeted last year.

The meeting heard the service had been hit by “significant increases” to “operational” costs since the pandemic, and the council has also seen a “decline in the numbers of available providers”.

The council spent £6.4m on the service in 2015, but is predicted to have spent more than £10.7m in 2024.

Cllr Chris Morgan asked what would happen if “no safe route” could be found for pupils walking to a school.

Marcus Lloyd, the council’s head of infrastructure, said each route would be assessed “to see how safe they were”, and if any were found to be unsafe, the council would pursue the “most beneficial long-term option”.

A six-week public consultation is expected to begin on Monday September 16.