North Yorkshire residents have been warned to expect further “difficult decisions” over key council services as a controversial move designed to cut spending on school transport was approved.
A full meeting of North Yorkshire Council saw members of the Conservative administration emphasise its duty to balance the authority’s books in the face of a £48m annual deficit as they faced strong criticism over the move to reduce pupils’ entitlement to free school transport to the statutory minimum.
Ahead of most Tory and Labour members voting for the cutbacks, Simon Peach, chair of governors at Settle College, was among a number of people to highlight concerns that the changes would not guarantee savings for the council.
He said the changes would guarantee hundreds of pounds of extra costs every term for parents if they chose not to send their child to the nearest school.
The meeting heard claims dropping free transport to schools in a child’s school catchment area would see some schools lose many hundreds of thousands of pounds to “nearest” schools from Cumbria to South Yorkshire to County Durham.
Some small schools may not be viable following the changes, which are set to be phased in over seven years, and larger schools would face a loss of teachers and curriculum, councillors were told.
Other councillors underlined how the move would transfer the burden of ferrying children to and from school to parents, with one member, Councillor John McCartney, dubbing the system “home to school transport Apartheid”.
Liberal Democrat group leader Councillor Bryn Griffiths was among a number of members who warned the changes could actually end up costing the council more and that there was consensus that there was “no chance” of achieving the maximum forecast amount of savings, £4.2m.
The meeting heard concerns repeated that the changes would lead to pupils being taken on unsafe high level routes in the Dales to school during winter and the council accused of failing in its carbon-cutting duty as it would see more parents driving children to school.
Councillors were also told the nearest school policy would mean some parents who practise a religion being prevented from sending their children to a school that matched their values.
Nevertheless, the meeting heard the council was not expecting any extra funding from the Government “any time soon” and numerous Conservative members agree that savings in discretionary services were desperately needed to help fund services the council had a statutory duty to provide.
The authority’s executive member for education, Councillor Annabel Wilkinson, told the meeting home to school transport was projected to cost the authority £51m this year, a sum which had more than doubled since 2018.
She said: “The council finances are such that difficult decisions are having to be made and we can expect more of this to come as the council finds ways to address the projected deficit.
“This isn’t an easy decision, but it is the right one.”
She added no one would lose the transport provision they had as the policy would be adopted over seven years.
In response to the concerns about safety, generating more traffic and pollution, she said the council would work with transport providers, encourage more children to walk and cycle to school and promote sustainable travel.
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