Have your say on home-to-school transport
Posted on : 16 Sep 2024
Caerphilly County Borough Council is considering making changes to its current home-to-school and college transport policy.
A six week consultation period starts this week (Monday 16 September) to gather feedback from the community about the planned changes.
The council is facing significant financial challenges over the next few years and must save £45 million pounds to balance the budget. Many services are being reviewed in order to identify savings and deliver efficiencies.
School transport currently costs over £10.7 million each year and Caerphilly is one of the last Local Authorities in Wales to provide a higher level of discretionary transport, well above Welsh Government’s statutory requirements.
If agreed, any changes to the home-to-school and college transport policy would come into effect from September 2025.
The consultation will seek views on changing to the statutory minimum distance of 2 miles for primary aged children (currently 1.5 miles) and 3 miles for secondary aged children (currently 2 miles).
The potential removal of the discretionary mileage element for mainstream provision would bring it in line with WG statutory distance criteria, resulting in an annual saving of £1.5million.
The proposed alterations will still mean that:
- Learners will continue to be able to select their ‘relevant’ school in accordance with their preference of English medium, Welsh medium, or faith school.
- The provision of transport for post-16 learners will continue, but the distance criteria will change from 2 miles to 3 miles and the provision of transport for early years/nursery will continue (dependent on spare vehicle capacity) but the distance criteria will change from 1.5 miles to 2 miles.
- Provision of discretionary transport for learners with Additional Learning Needs will continue.
A CCBC spokesperson said, “The council’s transport budget is under significant financial pressure and we are one of the last councils in Wales to offer a more generous discretionary mileage policy.”
“These proposed changes have been carefully considered, but it is important that we consult those affected and fully consider the views of the community before we agree any changes in future.”
The closing date for the consultation is 28th October and further information on how to have your say can be found here: https://conversation.caerphilly.gov.uk/home-to-school-transport