Council regrets 'unfortunately necessary' changes that cost 100 children free bus passes

Twm Owen, Local Democracy Reporter

A council has "expressed regret" that approved changes to their transport allocation will cost more than 100 children their free bus passes. 

From September schoolchildren in Monmouthshire will only qualify for a free bus pass if they live more than three miles from their secondary school or two miles for primary school pupils. 

The county council tightened its qualifying distances, which had been two miles and one a half miles, to bring them into line with the Welsh Government’s statutory distances and said a home to school transport bill of £7 million a year was unaffordable. 

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Financial hardship

The decision was confirmed in October last year and the cut to the transport allocation included in the current budget that was approved in March by the Labour-led council. 

But at their July meeting councillors backed a motion by Conservative councillor for Portskewett, Lisa Dymock, that “regrets” its adoption of the statutory distances “will cause financial hardship and logistical difficulties for many Monmouthshire families”. 

Several Labour councillors spoke in support of the motion and criticised how the decision had been implemented. 

Labour’s Rachel Garrick said 13 children in her Caldicot Castle ward, who attend a local faith school, are impacted and claimed no parents were aware of an email from the council regarding it. 

She also criticised an impact assessment as she said it hadn’t taken account some parents are having to reduce hours at work to accompany their children to school. 

Bulwark and Thornwell member Sue Riley said she and her Labour ward colleague, Armand Watts, had raised their concerns about impact on low income families for the past two years. 

She said she doubted many children from her ward, one of the most deprived in Monmouthshire, would “have the benefits of a good pair of shoes and warm coat” as she had when she walked to school. 

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Six mile walk

The council’s consultation was also criticised while Conservative member for Mitchell Troy and Trellech, Richard John, said children in his ward will be expected to walk six miles to and from Monmouth Comprehensive. 

Shirenewton Conservative Louise Brown outlined fears regarding the council’s “safe route” to Chepstow school, along the A48, and a number of incidents where pedestrians had bene “clipped” by passing vehicles. 

“Anyone who says it is safe has quite frankly never walked it,” said Cllr Brown. 

She said she will present a 220 signature petition to the council while St Arvans member Ann Webb said 300 have signed a petion concerned at the route to Chepstow and the Dell Primary. 

It passes the racecourse which she said was also a concern: “People leaving can be quite jolly, whether they’ve lost or won, and it can be quite intimidating for parents and children.” 

Former cabinet member for education, Cllr Martyn Groucutt, defended the original decision and said the council was being “ripped off” on some bus contracts, which operators can hand back at short notice. 

He also said when he made the decision he had spoken to headteachers and none had raised school transport as a concern and that he was aware of the socio-economic position in Bulwark and Thornwell but said the headteacher at the primary hadn’t raised it as issue. 

'Necessary changes' 

Current cabinet member for education Laura Wright said she was “entirely happy to support the motion” but defended the “unfortunately necessary” changes.  

The Abergavenny councillor said: “It was not a decision we wanted to make but governance involves difficult choices”. 

She said it was better to continue to support services such as educational psychology in schools than continuing to provide a more generous transport policy. 

She also said the other points in Cllr Dymock’s motion regarding expediting appeals, contacted affected families and setting out their rights to appeal and working with schools and communities on “exploring, safe alternatives” were already being done. 

At the meeting it was also confirmed 51 primary pupils and 64 secondary pupils will lose their entitlement to free transport from September as a result of the changes and a further three pupils will no longer be entitled to a bus pass as a safe walking route to their school has been identified. 

The council had previously expected more than 300 children to be impacted but said final figures wouldn’t be known until application for this September had been made.