Parents concerned about the withdrawal of bus services to schools in rural areas have accused the council of denying their “democratic rights”.
Councillor Eddie Reeves has submitted a motion for Oxfordshire County Council’s meeting today which will discuss the Spare Seats Scheme provision.
The scheme allows parents and carers who do not qualify for free home-to-school transport to pay for seats on buses where there is space.
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Despite the council stating they have "not withdrawn the spare seats scheme overall"; 235 families received a letter on January 9 which was titled ‘Withdrawal of Spare Seats Scheme Routes’.
Oxfordshire County Council stated in this letter they were reducing “significantly” the “number of spare seats available for children without a statutory entitlement to free home to school travel”.
A large number of parents have since expressed outrage, as working parents have told the Oxford Mail they are re-considering their working schedules and will be forced to move their children to new schools in GCSE exam year.
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Parents have now accused the council of “suppressing” informed debate and “discriminating” against parents for not allowing more than three parents to speak at the upcoming meeting.
The council previously gave assurances to parents that they would be allowed to raise their concerns about the withdrawal of the scheme.
Grant Cawte, a parent from Upper Heyford and whose child attends the Warriner School, said he was initially told he was allowed to speak on March 23 but this was then quickly withdrawn on Saturday, March 25.
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Mr Cawte said: “In limiting speakers, the council is trying to not have an informed debate on the implications of their decision.
“They are discriminating against parents and their children.
“The democratic thing to do would be to consider all aspects.”
For the 2022-23 academic year, parents were able to pay £244 per term for a seat where available, and if the journey was three miles (4.8km) or more.
However, parents who live along routes which are set to be withdrawn were told by the council they would no longer be “offered a seat for travel after 21 July 2023”.
The council stated in their letter to parents that “a very limited number of spare seats” may become available but parents will not know the outcome of their applications until the end of July at the earliest.
The scheme is set to be withdrawn along eight routes and one of these routes is used by Mr Cawte’s daughter.
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Schools which will be affected include Wheatley Park School and the Warriner School.
Mr Cawte said it was likely that his daughter would have to “change school” and he accused the council of not being “transparent” in the way they’ve handled the issue.
He explained: “They are suppressing the debate which needs to happen so the implications of this decision can be addressed.
“Is limiting the number of speakers in the bounds of what we would call a democracy?”
In the council’s email to Mr Carte revoking his permission to speak, he was told the council’s chair had decided to prevent more than three parents speaking due to “the large number of items on the agenda” and “the fact there are request to speak on other items”.
Peter Walker, another parent who was due to speak, accused the council of “denying” his “democratic right” and described the council’s invoking of section 10 of the council procedural rules as “extremely restrictive”.
He said: “I’m extremely angry and frustrated and I believe they want to limit the number of objections to the scheme so they can gloss over it.
“This is a complete failure by the council for not communicating in a more professional or timely way with the parents.”
Mr Walker was informed by Annie Muller, the joint leader of the Save Our Bus Seats campaign, that he was no longer allowed to speak and said he was “very annoyed” the council hadn’t taken the time to let him know they had changed their mind.
He said: “I’m very annoyed the council didn’t have the courtesy to reach out to me as I’ve re-scheduled my working week."
Both Mr Carte and Mr Walker plan to attend the meeting tomorrow to demand that they will be listened to.
Ms Muller said the council decided to impose the limit on parents speaking as they do not want “councillors and even cabinet members to understand what it is they are doing or how they have gone about it”.
An Oxfordshire County Council spokesman said: "Three parents have been invited to speak tomorrow. Our understanding is that they are connected to others through social media, allowing them to gather and collate viewpoints and present them on behalf of the parents.
"Oxfordshire County Council provides home to school transport to over 10,000 pupils every year at a cost of over £25million per year.
"We will continue to provide the spare seats scheme as part of the home to school transport service.
"Our home to school transport policy continues to include a commitment to utilise spare capacity on vehicles contracted to transport eligible children. Spare seats will be available for purchase by parents of non-eligible children.
"There are around 9,000 children – often with complex needs – who are eligible to use school transport in Oxfordshire.
"In any given year there will be spare seats on buses once these children have been catered for.
"Every year, the availability of spare seats on each route varies, depending on the numbers of eligible children overall and the tendering of individual bus services.
"In any given part of Oxfordshire, numbers of seats can go up as well as down from year to year.
"As regards the 235 parents/children, we continue to be in constructive dialogue and engagement with them about mitigations.
"We are very mindful when making these difficult decisions of the impact on the parents who will have to make alternative arrangements; and on the environment and reducing carbon."
After the council released this statement, Ms Muller was informed by the council that four parents would be allowed to speak.
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