Campaigners claim councillors at North Yorkshire Council are getting “jittery” over the impact of the controversial home-to-school transport policy on rural areas.
Campaign group School Transport Action Group (STAG) has spoken out after a councillor raised concerns about the effect of the rule change —which means free school transport is only offered to a child’s nearest school — on his division.
Speaking at Skipton and Ripon Area Committee meeting earlier this month, Councillor David Staveley, Conservative member for Settle and Penyghent, admitted that the council’s own transport policy was contributing to financial pressures on Settle College.
“Clearly, home school transport has had an impact on the financial pressures of establishments like Settle College,” he said, adding that he was concerned about projected pupil numbers and what that could mean for the school’s future viability.
He also warned that he did not want to see a situation where pupils in the north of Craven would have to travel much further for secondary education if the school struggled.
“I would hate to think that we were going to be in a situation where the nearest school for the north of Craven would be in Skipton,” he said.
Last month, Upper Wharfedale Tory councillor, Richard Foster, acknowledged that “errors had been made” in the way the policy had been implemented during discussions with the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.
The comments have been highlighted by members of STAG, which was formed by parents and opposition parties, to fight the rule change.
Campaigners say that with local elections 14 months away, they are not surprised that some councillors in rural divisions, who have previously backed the policy, are now beginning to look increasingly uneasy about the policy.
A spokesperson said: “It does appear that Conservative councillors are getting jittery about the impact of this policy on rural areas.”
STAG has also criticised the timetable for a review of the controversial policy, which it says means that any proposed changes will not be voted on by the full council until July 2027, after the next local elections.
This would mean any changes would only apply for the first time to children starting new schools in September 2028.
The spokesperson added: “As we warned, this delay condemns another two years of children to harm.
“That means this policy will have caused three years of damage before anything is put right — and the longer it is allowed to continue, the harder that damage will be to repair.
“Even known errors in how the policy has been applied are being left uncorrected. That is a total dereliction of duty.
“This council has kicked the can well and truly down the road.”
North Yorkshire Council chiefs say the police change was needed to address the spiralling cost of school transport, which has risen to more than £50m a year.
They say the old policy went beyond the legal minimum requirements and the new system is fairer because the previous policy meant some children were offered free transport to more than one school.
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