Plight of Dales school bus services heard in London

The House of Lords has been told of the “heartache and distress caused to thousands of families” by controversial changes to home-to-school transport in North Yorkshire.

Baroness Harris of Richmond addressed members on the issue during a debate on bus services on Wednesday.

The Liberal Democrat life peer told the upper house that plans by North Yorkshire Council to only pay for transport for children attending their nearest school, rather than using a catchment system, ignored the geography of the county and failed to factor in the disruption it would cause to families.

The former chair of North Yorkshire County Council told members the implications of the change in policy were “simply massive”.
She said: “Families may be forced to send their children out of the county to be educated, causing disruption to North Yorkshire schools, who will lose pupils – and funding.
“In vast rural areas, like the Yorkshire Dales, many children will be required to travel on remote, high roads often not gritted in the winter.
“North Yorkshire prides itself on having good, often exceptional schools. If it decides to send its children out of county to be educated, it will soon find itself struggling to maintain this quality.”

She added: “In addition, this policy change will result in siblings being forced to attend different schools over the seven-year implementation period.
“The disruption caused by this policy is giving real heartache and distress to thousands of parents.
“This decision has been made without consideration for the geography of North Yorkshire and without a thorough impact assessment of costs and impact on families. An urgent rethink is therefore required.”

Calling on the government to firm up its guidance to councils on what is expected of them on school transport, the baroness said: “All governments, be it local or national want to save money, but no one should be doing that on the back of children’s safety and education.”

The peer claimed the change would actually save any money, with the council having to find more money to fund buses to cover the increased number of routes needed during the seven-year transitional period.

North Yorkshire Council has repeatedly defended the changes, saying the authority needs to find ways of tackling a £48m budget shortfall.
Council chiefs say the policy change brings the authority in line with neighbouring authorities including Durham, Darlington and Lancashire.

They have stressed that parents still have a choice as to where to send their children but would need to pay for transport if the chosen school was not their nearest.

They have reassured parents that any new bus routes would be risk-assessed before being used.