Fresh Call For School Transport Rethink Amid Claims New Policy Could Cost Millions

Campaigners and opposition councillors are making a fresh bid to reverse changes to North Yorkshire Council’s home-to-school transport policy, warning it could ultimately cost taxpayers an extra £5 million a year.

Campaigners and opposition councillors are preparing to make a fresh bid to reverse controversial changes to North Yorkshire Council’s home-to-school transport policy.

The move comes amid startling claims that the recent rule changes could ultimately cost local taxpayers an additional £5 million every single year.

A formal motion is set to be put to the full council on Wednesday, calling on councillors to revert the current policy back to providing free transport to a child’s catchment school.

The local authority controversially changed the transport rules in 2024 to only allow free transport to a child’s nearest school.

Critics of the change argue that this has caused significant problems for parents and schools across the county, particularly for those living in rural areas.

The new motion has been proposed by Liberal Democrat councillors, and it has garnered the support of other political parties.

It highlights extensive research conducted by campaigners from the School Transport Action Group.

The campaign group's analysis suggests that the policy change will not achieve the £3 million in savings originally claimed by the authority, and could actually end up costing the council more money.

The motion claims that the council’s projected savings are based entirely on an incomplete financial model.

The motion states:

"Once the additional costs of delivering the policy are considered, the projected savings disappear.

Independent modelling reveals that once fragmentation of routes and additional admin costs are factored in, even after the seven-year transition period ‘nearest only’ policy costs eight to ten per cent more to run than ‘nearest or catchment’."

According to the analysis by the School Transport Action Group, this equates to an extra £4 million to £5 million a year to run the home-to-school transport network.

This motion is being proposed amid further mounting criticisms regarding exactly how the policy has been implemented on the ground.

North Yorkshire Council has officially admitted that mapping data for 28 schools was accidentally amended within their live systems. This error affected the distance calculations that are used to determine a pupil's eligibility for free transport.

The council has confirmed that Scalby School in Scarborough is among the affected schools, alongside Tadcaster Grammar School.

Campaigners from the School Transport Action Group also believe the administrative error may have consequences for parents wanting transport to Richmond School.

In response to the data issue, campaigners have written to senior councillors and officers requesting a full list of the schools involved. They are also seeking confirmation that recent transport decisions and appeals have been thoroughly reviewed in light of the admission.

A spokesperson for the School Transport Action Group said:

"How much longer will the council continue pouring time and public money into defending a policy that families warned from the outset was overly complicated, prone to error and ill-suited to a rural county?

At some point someone simply needs to press the common-sense button, restore catchment-based transport and let children get to their local schools in the way North Yorkshire families have done for decades."

In response to the claims, Jo Heaney, North Yorkshire Council’s assistant director for children’s partnerships and sufficiency, stated that early indications were that the savings anticipated by the authority would indeed be achieved.

Jo Heaney said:

"Our previous home to school transport policy was over and above what was required by the Department for Education, and the one revised in 2024 is in line with the national legislation that is followed by many other councils nationally.

Our costs for this service now exceed £52m per year – £1m every week – making it one of the top three areas of the council’s spending.

We have a duty to provide transport to eligible children, and we want to ensure this is in a safe, efficient, responsible and cost-effective way.

The policy ensures we transport eligible children to their nearest schools. However, parents and carers still have a choice as to where they send their children to school.

We offer extra travel support for children from low-income families through our extended rights arrangements."

The assistant director added that the council was currently carrying out a post-implementation review, which is looking closely at how the transport policy has been working in practice.

Jo Heaney added:

"Our findings and any recommendations will be published in the autumn."