Have your say on proposed changes to school transport
Tuesday, 29 April 2025
We are consulting on a proposed change to its Home to School Transport Policy, which would mean only providing mainstream school transport to a child's nearest suitable school.
Currently, eligible pupils can be taken to either their nearest school or one based on our school catchment areas, but the ‘catchment’ criteria would be removed under the new policy.
The Department for Education updated its guidance a number of years ago, and it refers only to ‘nearest school’. With this statutory guidance becoming the reference point for most local authorities, changing the policy would bring us in line with this guidance and in line with neighbouring local authorities.
It would also make things fairer for pupils; currently some are eligible for transport to both their nearest school and their local authority catchment area school(s), while others may only be eligible to transport to one school. By transporting children to their nearest suitable school only, every eligible pupil receives the same offer for transport.
Any change to the policy would only apply to new mainstream home to school transport applications, from September 2026, and all existing transport arrangements will continue to be honoured. This policy change will not apply to children with an Education, Health and Care Plan, to pupils placed at a school by the council, or to transport for pupils aged 16 and over.
Changing school transport provision to the nearest suitable school only should shorten journeys and reduce the number of pupils eligible for transport, potentially leading to fewer school buses on the roads. Shorter journeys and/or less buses contribute to improving air quality and a lower carbon footprint. Reducing emissions is a key priority for us supporting a more sustainable future for generations to come.
Councillor Steve Owen, Executive Member for Children’s Services, said:
The Council currently provides over and above our statutory responsibility on mainstream home to school transport. This means that in some cases we are transporting children past perfectly good schools that are nearer to them, to a catchment area school. We have been open about rising costs of providing school transport and other services such as social care. We must do the right thing by our taxpayers and make sure we are making the best use of their money, and the current policy does not do this. I want to encourage everyone to have their say on this proposal – it's important we hear from parents/carers and schools but also residents who fund our services through Council Tax.
The consultation is open until 30 June 2025.
As part of the consultation, we are holding engagement events for parents/carers and school representatives to find out more about the proposed change and how they might be affected.