Because of budget cuts from the Welsh Labour Government in Cardiff, RCT Council has decided to change its Home to School Transport Policy. Starting in September, children living within a three-mile walk of their secondary school will no longer qualify for home to school transport.
I believe this decision is wrong, and along with my RCT Welsh Conservative colleagues, have been leading the way in advocating against it since it was first announced last year. RCT Council has one of the largest usable reserve funds in Wales, holding a staggering £255 million in its bank account. Despite this, the Council repeatedly claims there is no money available, and now our children are suffering from poor decision-making and budgeting.
Residents in RCT also pay some of the highest council tax rates in the UK, with a 4.7% increase this year alone. There’s no doubt in my mind that another substantial increase in our council tax rates will be forced upon us next year- it’s a never-ending cycle of passing the blame, with residents constantly paying the consequences – Welsh Labour simply don’t care.
Having walked many of these proposed ‘safe walking routes’, I understand why parents don’t want their children to undertake, what can be, a six-mile round trip, five days a week just to get to school. Depending on the route, some children may even have to walk for over an hour, dealing with narrow pavements, poor lighting, and roadworks along the way.
It was argued that cuts to home-to-school transport would benefit the environment by reducing the number of coaches and buses on the road and encouraging families to walk. However, many parents consider the council-approved ‘safe’ routes to be ‘unsafe.’ As a result, parents throughout the county borough are likely to drive their children to school instead, increasing local pollution and traffic.
With the unreliability of public transport, cuts to our local bus services and the rising costs associated with using buses, many families cannot afford to send their children to school this way either.
RCT Council claims that a full consultation was conducted before cutting home-to-school transport, but a consultation is pointless if they do not genuinely listen to residents' concerns. Poor budgeting, wrong prioritisation, and a misguided agenda from the Labour-controlled RCT Council have left residents worse off for over 20 years - enough is enough.
We urgently need a local council that puts residents and their families first, rather than pursuing their own interests. In the Senedd, I will continue to call out the Council’s poor decision making with the Welsh Government and highlight my concerns with the Council directly.
ENDS
