South West: School run

Chris Rogers
Political Editor BBC South West

Ever increasing traffic is one of the worst aspects of modern life, and during the school year a lot of the traffic in towns comes from the school run.

Some councils charge parents for the school bus service

In the Queen's Speech, the government outlined a draft School Transport Bill to try to encourage more pupils to walk or cycle to school, to improve their health as well as cut congestion.

But the new proposals have already been roundly condemned for allowing councils to charge parents for the school bus service each day, a service which up to now has been free for thousands of children.

The government wants to set up a dozen pilot schemes for three years to see how new ways of providing school transport might help cut traffic congestion.

But that spells trouble for parents in the rural areas of the South West.

One suggestion in the Bill is for parents to be required to pay for the school bus, according to their income.

Councils would then be required to plough the money back into the school bus service, but the scheme came under fire within hours of the Queen's Speech.

John Dunford, General Secretary of the Secondary Heads Association said;

This surprise measure calls into question the free state education service.

There are many parents whose children are not on free school meals and therefore won't qualify for continuing free transport.

They will be horrified at the prospect of paying for transport because of where they live.

Free rural buses?

That will include the parents of the 900 children at Okehampton College who currently get free school buses because they live deep in the rural hinterland which makes up the second biggest catchment area in the country.

Our council taxes have gone up by record amounts, other bills are increasing, this is all we need.

Why can't they just leave it alone.

says Adrian Geering, a parent who was a farmer 800 feet up on the Moor until Foot and Mouth decimated his business and forced him to become a postman.

"It is just another Labour stealth tax" claims John Hart, Tory County Councillor with responsibility for school transport.

Charges to parents

No one knows what a personal bill will be, though Hart points out that Devon has a transport bill of around £20 million, with 22,000 pupils benefiting.

The cost per head is not difficult to calculate, but is painful to contemplate.

" Don't forget it's just a proposal" says Transport Minister and Plymouth MP David Jamieson.

It looks as if Tony Blair has launched his Big Conversation at just the right time.

He may well find thousands of parents making it quite clear where they see the future of school transport, and who should pay.

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