Free school transport to catchment school is legally sound

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporting Service 

A senior councillor has emphasised that free transport from home to the catchment area school is legally sound.

At a Powys County Council meeting on Thursday, 6 March, a member of the public, Phil Ellis, will ask the cabinet member for transport, Liberal Democrat Cllr Jackie Charlton, a question about home-to-school transport.

Mr Ellis said: “The updated Home to School Transport Policy now states: Where parents/guardians exercise a preference for a school other than their catchment school, the child/children will not be entitled to free home to school transport.”

Mr Ellis explained that, legally, under the Learner Travel (Wales) Measure 2008, the distances mentioned on the “appropriateness of the school” are to be measured by the shortest available route.

Mr Ellis added: “Notably, there is no reference to catchment areas as a condition for this requirement.

“Given this, can the portfolio holder confirm that if a pupil resides closer to a school which is outside their designated catchment area, transport will still be provided in accordance with the Learner Travel Measure.

“If not, can the portfolio holder explain how this policy meets the requirements of the measure.”

In her response Cllr Charlton uses the Welsh Governments Learner Travel Statutory Provision and Operational Guidance (June 2014) which is supposed to clarify the rules around the measure.

Cllr Charlton said: “It states in that a local authority must assess the travel needs of learners in their authority and provide free home to school transport for learners who reside more than two miles (primary) and three miles (secondary) or further to their nearest suitable school.”

“The guidance document states that deciding which suitable school is the nearest is a matter for the local authority to determine in accordance with their own travel and education policy.

Due to this Cllr Charlton says that the council has decided that children’s nearest suitable school is their “catchment area school.”

Cllr Charlton said: “Due to the large and rural nature and the many topographical features that exist in our county, this can mean in very few instances, that another school will be slightly closer than the catchment school.

“But the catchment school is the only school that the council will provide transport to.”

She adds that there is an appeals process for those that are unhappy with decisions.

Under the rules, in response to the answer Mr Brown will be allowed to ask an extra question at the meeting.

Last month the Learning and Skills committee said that they would write to the Welsh Government to ask for clarity over the home to school transport catchment school issue.

At the time they were looking at a report on the consultation into proposals to close Ysgol Bro Cynllaith in Llansilin near Oswestry at the end of August.

Committee members feared the council would need to pay to transport pupils to their nearest primary schools over the border in Shropshire if parents chose to send their children there, rather than the nearest catchment school is which deemed to be the much further away Ysgol Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant.