Member of Parliament for Beverley and Holderness, Graham Stuart has written to the Minister for Education to ask him to review the qualifying criteria for school transport.
Commenting Graham said, “The legislative framework for the provision of school transport dates back to the Education Act 1944, which set the statutory distance over which free travel to school must be provided. The distances set were two miles each way for children of eight years old or younger and three miles for children over the age of eight years.
“There are at least three villages in my constituency, Thorngumbald, Seaton and Walkington, which are bisected by the three mile limit for free school transport. This results in a situation where houses fractionally on one side of the line can benefit from the scheme, whereas other houses close by cannot.
“The cost of transport to and from school can be a significant issue for families who cannot benefit from the right to free transport – despite sometimes only missing out on this entitlement by a matter of metres.
Mrs Nicola Salvidge of Seaton Parish Council said, “This has been a problem in Seaton for many years with most of the village lying inside of the three mile boundary, yet the road to school is too busy for young people to walk or cycle along so parents are forced to pay over £4 per day per child for them to catch the school bus.
“This road has been deemed safe by officials yet it is so busy it has been re classified as an A road, has no continuous path and in places no path. Parents have been fighting this for years. It is good to hear that Graham is calling for a review of this legislation, as our roads are a different place than they were in the 1940’s when the rules were originally introduced.”
