Have Your Say On School Transport

23 November 2011, 05:00

Buckinghamshire County Council are looking at changing home to school transport to save millions of pounds.

And they want to know what you think on the planned changes.

At the moment, 12,000 pupils use the council's home to school transport services, but up to half could be affected by the new proposals.

The consultation starts at the end of the day on Tuesday 15th November and runs until the end of January 2012.

Have your say on the plans here.

Mike Appelyard, Buckinghamshire County Council's Cabinet Member for Education and Skills said:

"An earlier consultation, held in the spring, helped us to identify the views and priorities of parents and this further consultation will help us decide the final details for the new mainstream home to school transport policy.

"This year we will save a further £1.3million by changing the policy for 16+ students, making total savings of £4.4million, but we still need to make further cost reductions of £1.4million.

"We appreciate that any changes to the home to school transport policy will have an impact on parents across Buckinghamshire, however, the stark reality is that if the cost reductions don't come from home to school transport now they are likely to impact more directly on children's education.

"Parents' views are very important and I encourage as many people as possible to complete the survey or to come along to one of the 18 meetings that we will be holding during the consultation period.

"The council has to make £55million savings across all services and home to school transport is one area where at the moment, the council's approach is more generous than both the current statutory requirements and that of most other local authorities."

Find out the dates and venues of the 18 meetings here.