Hampshire home-to-school transport plan will go ahead

Attempts to get a council to reconsider cuts to school transport for pupils with disabilities have been defeated.

From September, children with special educational needs in Hampshire will take shared transport from pick-up and drop-off points rather than being collected from home.

The changes were approved by Hampshire County Council earlier this month.

The authority was then asked to reconsider its plan. However, it has decided the plans will go ahead.

Some members of the council's Children and Young People Select Committee had asked for the committee to meet and decide whether to exercise its call-in powers.

But in a meeting held on Thursday afternoon, eight of the 12 committee members voted against the proposals to call in the initial decision.

Liberal Democrat councillor Malcolm Wade, who was among those calling for a review, told the meeting it was "the most vulnerable of children that we are standing up for".

The new system is expected to save the council £986,000.

But Labour councillor Jacky Tustain told the committee she was "very disheartened" that vulnerable children would "take the brunt of the cuts".

Speaking in favour of the changes, the vice chair of the committee Juliet Henderson said it was not a "one size fits all" policy and there would still be individual assessments for children.

The Disability Union previously criticised the changes, saying they had not been made with the children in mind.

The council insisted each of the 12,000 children using the service would be looked at on a case-by-case basis.

The new policy will apply from September but will be spread over several years as pupils will need to be assessed.

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