No conspiracies exist over a council’s handling of appeals by parents refused free home-to-school transport after a rule change, says the leader of the authority.
Emails between senior Conservative councillors on North Yorkshire Council have been published, which campaigners and opposition members claim suggest that appeal panel decisions were made on political grounds rather than on the evidence.
More than 200 appeals have been heard by the council after the authority changed the rules, which stopped parents getting free transport for their children to catchment schools which were not their nearest.
Families say the policy change is unfair and left them with a difficult choice of having to pay for school transport or splitting up friendship and family groups, and allowing their child to travel along unsafe routes to school.
The emails were obtained following a Freedom of Information request by Green Party councillor Arnold Warneken.
They appear to show senior Conservative councillors and officers discussing political balance on appeal panels, restricting the role of parent representatives and tightening procedures during live hearings.
One email sent by Conservative appeals panel chair Robert Windass to Conservative group leader Carl Les in August last year notes that the panel only has two Tories including himself and two Liberal Democrat councillors.
“Already I have used my casting vote to refuse an appeal,” he added.
Campaigners say the wording is “troubling” because the appeals are supposed to be unbiased and decisions are meant to be based on the evidence, not taken along party-political lines.
Critics have questioned why no substitute councillor from another political group was brought in on the day of the tied hearing, despite cross-party substitutions taking place between other parties when needed.
A spokesperson for the School Transport Action Group (STAG), which is fighting the rule change, said: “If political bias is genuinely left at the door, why was no councillor from another political group even asked to step in?
“Parents walked into those hearings already feeling the odds were stacked against them.
“The stats back this up with a success rate way below average compared with other councils. Now evidence has emerged to suggest that parents’ gut feel may have some justification.”
Councillor Peter Lacey, Liberal Democrat leader of the opposition, said: “This is yet another black mark against an ill-considered policy that has been poorly implemented from the very beginning.
“If parents cannot trust our appeals processes to operate fairly and independently, then we are in very deep trouble as a council.”
A number of parents have already submitted complaints to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman over the home-to-school appeals process, including restrictions on who could speak at the hearings and what evidence would be considered.
Cllr Warneken has also made a submission to the ombudsman after receiving the FOI response.
He said: “As the ombudsman process is ongoing, it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to draw firm conclusions at this stage.”
In response, Cllr Les said Cllr Windass contacted him because he was concerned not enough substitute panel members were coming forward to help.
He added: “People see conspiracies everywhere, but there were no conspiracies about it.
“Cllr Windass approached me to say ‘we’re running short of people at times. I think we should do something about it’, so that’s what we did.”
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