Caerphilly: Children could face nearly 3-mile walk to school amid proposed council transport cuts

Some schoolchildren in Caerphilly could face a nearly three-mile walk to school as the council looks at ways to save money.

It comes as Caerphilly County Borough Council has proposed increasing the minimum distance that children must live away from school if they are to qualify for free transport.

It's part of cost-cutting measures the county borough is looking into amid what it calls “significant financial challenges”.

Currently, primary school pupils must live at least 1.5 miles away from their school to qualify, but this could rise to two miles under the council’s new proposals.

Similarly, secondary school pupils currently qualify for free transport if they live more than two miles away from their school, but this could now rise to three miles.

The council has said it will listen to the public before making any changes, but a local Senedd member has called the proposals a “retrograde step” which could jeopardise some children’s hopes of attending a Welsh-language school.

This week it emerged the council had spent an extra £1.4 million on school transport last year than originally budgeted.

At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday July 17, members heard that the council was “looking at starting discussions at some point in the future” about making changes to the current school transport rules as an “opportunity for a saving”.

The cuts to school transport services could save around £1.5m a year, the council has said.

The council has confirmed that transport provision for children with additional learning needs, or who are under the statutory school age or in post-16 education, will not be affected.

“The council’s transport budget is under significant financial pressure and we are one of the last councils in Wales to offer a more generous discretionary mileage policy,” a council spokesperson said.

“These proposed changes have been carefully considered, but it is important that we consult those affected and fully consider the views of the community before we agree any changes in future.”

Peredur Owen Griffiths, a Plaid Cymru Senedd Member for the South Wales East region, has criticised the council’s proposals.

He branded it a “retrograde step" which could "limit educational opportunities for children across the county borough and across all different types of schools”.

He claimed the proposals are “particularly damaging for families without a car” and says the changes “may also mean children will not be able to start or continue education in a Welsh medium setting due to the nature of such schools having a larger catchment area, meaning they are often not the ‘local’ school for many of their pupils”.

Such a move could lead to the council “undermining” the Welsh Government’s plans for one million Welsh speakers, Mr Owen Griffiths said.

He added “It is a simple fact that walking more than two miles in the rain and wind will be off-putting for even the most dedicated of pupils.”

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