'Cover-up' claims stop school transport meeting

A meeting to discuss changes to home-to-school transport was stopped after parents and councillors claimed there had been a "cover-up".

North Yorkshire Council has proposed limits on free transport for under-16s, which would restrict journeys to the child's nearest school.

Although the council hopes the policy would deliver savings of up to £3m a year, campaigners collected 2,000 signatures on a petition asking for a return to a catchment system.

Campaigners had submitted a Freedom of Information request to see a study on the policy's impact on schools, but said the council had not yet responded, prompting councillors to back a proposal that the debate be deferred.

At the meeting on Monday, campaigners voiced concerns about how the policy would affect their communities.

Brenda Price, chair of governors at Reeth and Gunnerside Schools, said the 13 pupils in year six would be split between five different schools - Richmond, Wensleydale, Risedale, Teesdale and Kirkby Stephen.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, she said: "The community that we nurtured for the previous seven years would be shattered.

"Many of these children live in isolated locations so school, and their transport to and from school, is their social hub."

Mrs Price added parents were being given a "Hobson's choice", where they would only apply to a school their child could be transported to safely.

Yorkshire Dales parent Linda Rudkin said she believed the changes could mean Richmond School losing 140 pupils, resulting in the loss of 10 teachers.

Another parent, Carol Livingstone, said the policy was going to cause ripple effects across the county for years to come, without any financial benefit to the council.

"If you think that thousands of parents like us are going to sit quietly for two years whilst you experiment to see if there are any savings, causing disruption to our families and ruining schools, then I'm sorry but you are sorely mistaken," she told the meeting.

After hearing from the speakers, Richmond councillor Stuart Parsons proposed a deferment, saying councillors could not fully debate the issue without having all the information.

He said: "Why has the council not sent the information because it clearly smells of a cover-up and yet another smokescreen?

"If they're happy with what they've been trying to tell us, they should have had no difficulty supplying the information requested."

The deferment was backed by councillors and the meeting was stopped.

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