North Yorkshire councillors will be urged to rethink controversial home-to-school transport changes when they meet next week.
Members of North Yorkshire Council’s Richmond area committee will debate a petition calling on the authority to reverse its decision to impose restrictions which mean transport is only provided to a child’s nearest school, rather than their catchment school.
The petition was organised by the School Transport Action Group, which was formed by parents and community leaders in the Upper Dales but now has members across the county.
The petition states: “North Yorkshire Council’s recent decision to limit free school transport to the nearest school only is detrimental to rural families.
“It will divide communities, harm local schools and risk children’s safety by requiring travel on remote, often impassable routes. In return, there is no guarantee of any substantial financial savings.
“We the undersigned, led by a team of anxious Upper Dales parents and local residents, demand that councillors rethink and reverse this damaging policy in the light of the negative impact it will have on the safety and education of children across rural North Yorkshire.”
Council rules mean any petition with more than 500 signatures has to be debated by the authority.
The committee could agree to take no action or could send the policy back to the council’s executive for review.
In a statement ahead of the meeting, the campaign group said it was feared that when North Yorkshire Council became a unitary authority in 2023, local voices would no longer be heard.
A spokesperson added: “We were promised this would not be the case and they pledged to be ‘the most local, large council’.
“This school transport policy is the first real test of that. We hope the councillors take this chance to prove they are finally listening.
“This policy in its current form is detrimental to our children, our communities and to our North Yorkshire schools. Crucially, there is no evidence that it will deliver any savings. In fact, it may even cost more.”
The group said it was asking councillors to “do what’s right, to rethink and bring catchment back”.
In a report to councillors, Barry Khan, assistant chief executive, said the council had committed to reviewing the policy change in summer 2026 after a year of implementation.
He added: “Before this time, it may not be possible to draw sufficient information to analyse and make meaningful recommendations.
“A full cycle would enable greater levels of analysis of the impacts of the policy across the whole county.”
Mr Khan said the findings of this review will be published in autumn 2026 and any changes could be implemented from September 2027.
He added: “Therefore, the view of officers is that this, already agreed review, could address the petitioners’ request for councillors to rethink the policy.”
The issue will be debated at County Hall in Northallerton at 10am on Monday.
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