Council accused of creating ‘Swaledale supertax’ with school transport rule change

North Yorkshire’s new home-to-school transport policy has created a “Swaledale supertax” with families facing £6,000 bills to get their children to secondary school, campaigners say.

North Yorkshire Council is facing further criticism for the rule change which starts to take effect this week at students return to school after the holidays.

Parents in Swaledale and Arkengarthdale who were refused a free bus pass for their child to get to Richmond School due to the new policy had hoped they could overturn the decision through the appeals process.
But campaigners say councillors have rejected the majority of appeals that have taken place so far, leaving parents having to organise their own transport or face an annual £818 fee per child for a bus pass.

Senior councillors and council chiefs have argued that still parents have choice and would receive free transport if they chose to send their children to nearer schools, which for Swaledale could include those in Kirkby Stephen, Barnard Castle or Leyburn.
But dales families have insisted that the routes to these schools are unsuitable due to being over moorland roads, which are treacherous in the winter.

With parents choosing not to list these schools as their first choice, it is understood no risk assessments have been carried out.
Swaledale mum, Claire Calvert, said the council has left parents in the dale with “zero choices”.
“The options we’ve been given are either to risk sending our children on dangerous high single-track roads that we know are not safe — and that are impassable for much of the winter — or to stump up for a bus pass so they can get to Richmond on gritted roads we know to be safe.
“They know that no responsible parent would do anything other than pay up.
“What that means is that, at the blink of an eye, getting an Upper Dales child to secondary school safely now costs over £6,000 in travel fees.
“That’s simply a supertax on education for Swaledale families.”

The School Transport Action Group (STAG), which was formed to fight the policy change which means free transport is only available to a child’s nearest school, said paid-for school bus passes were not guaranteed and could be revoked with a week’s notice. The group is also worried that the number of spare seats available for purchase will be reduced each year, with some routes eventually being scrapped entirely.

A spokesperson added: “The council is asking families to pay hundreds of pounds for something that could vanish at any time, while steadily whittling down the number of seats until the buses themselves disappear.”

Upper Dales Conservative councillor Yvonne Peacock, has been critical of the policy change — despite it being led by her own party’s administration. The councillor said this week she was “staggered” that Swaledale parents had seen their appeals rejected.
“I can’t believe that the appeals process was only interested in the suitability of the school, never considering the routes to get to school.
“I always believed that when it came to the appeals process, the routes would be considered, but that is not what has happened.”

In response to the criticism, North Yorkshire Council’s assistant director for inclusion, Amanda Fielding, said: “Our home-to-school transport policy is designed to be fair and consistent for families across North Yorkshire.
“We are one of the highest spending local authorities in the country on home-to-school transport. If we had done nothing, then the rising cost of home-to-school travel could have a crippling effect on the other services we must deliver by law. The previous eligibility under the ‘catchment’ criteria was a discretionary provision.
“Unfortunately, we simply cannot afford to operate a more generous policy due to the acute financial position we are in.”