UPDATE - I attended my local parish council meeting….
WEST HORNDON SCHOOL BUS COSTS – UPDATE FROM TONIGHT’S PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
I’ve just come out of tonight’s Parish Council meeting, and I wanted to update everyone on the discussion about our school bus costs.
A representative from Essex County Council was present. Unfortunately, when the school bus costs came up for discussion, he stepped out to take a phone call and returned once all the points had been made.
His position was that Essex County Council cannot help with the bus costs because they don’t run the buses.
We were also told that the national policy is to provide free home-to-school transport to a child’s geographically nearest school, and that this policy isn’t going to change.
But this is exactly the problem. WHO IS ACTUALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR HELPING OUR FAMILIES?
Essex County Council is run by Reform. We have a Conservative MP in Brentwood, while the Government is Labour-led.
This is why I have been copying practically everyone into my emails — the Council, our MP, the Government and anyone else I can think of. Because when one says they can’t help, another says the policy won’t change, and the bus operator is commercial, where exactly are parents supposed to turn?
I’m sorry that tonight’s discussion became heated. I genuinely am. But I am frustrated, and I know many other parents are too.
An adult who earns a wage can use a bus under the Government’s £2 fare cap, yet we are facing school transport costs of nearly £9 a day for our children to get to school.
How can we accept that as reasonable?
Our children have to attend school. This is not an optional journey, a luxury or a family day out. For many of us, the school bus is essential. We work, we have younger children, and we cannot simply drive our teenagers to school and back every day.
I am not asking for special treatment for my family. I am asking why children and working families are being left with such a financial burden, and why nobody seems willing to take responsibility for finding a solution.
I have already taken my individual case through Essex County Council’s appeal process and to the Ombudsman. I have contacted our MP and the Government, and I have now started a national petition calling for a mandatory cap on school bus fares.
Tonight has only reinforced why this needs to become a national issue.
If the Council says it cannot help because it doesn’t run the buses, then I want the Government to explain what protection families have against excessive fares charged by commercial operators.
If national policy determines which children qualify for free transport, then national Government must also look at what happens to the children who don’t qualify but still need a bus to get to school.
And if nobody currently has the power or responsibility to make school bus fares affordable, then surely that is precisely what needs to change.
I am not giving up on this.
Thank you to everyone who attended tonight, contributed to the discussion and has supported me so far.
Please continue to share the petition, speak to other parents and make your voices heard. This affects more than one family, and the more united we are as a village, the harder it will be to ignore.
Our children deserve affordable access to their education. That is all I am asking for.
Thanks
Aimee
FROM MY LOCAL PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
I’ve just come out of tonight’s Parish Council meeting, and I wanted to update everyone on the discussion about our school bus costs.
A representative from Essex County Council was present. Unfortunately, when the school bus costs came up for discussion, he stepped out to take a phone call and returned once all the points had been made.
His position was that Essex County Council cannot help with the bus costs because they don’t run the buses.
We were also told that the national policy is to provide free home-to-school transport to a child’s geographically nearest school, and that this policy isn’t going to change.
But this is exactly the problem. WHO IS ACTUALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR HELPING OUR FAMILIES?
Essex County Council is run by Reform. We have a Conservative MP in Brentwood, while the Government is Labour-led.
This is why I have been copying practically everyone into my emails — the Council, our MP, the Government and anyone else I can think of. Because when one says they can’t help, another says the policy won’t change, and the bus operator is commercial, where exactly are parents supposed to turn?
I’m sorry that tonight’s discussion became heated. I genuinely am. But I am frustrated, and I know many other parents are too.
An adult who earns a wage can use a bus under the Government’s £2 fare cap, yet we are facing school transport costs of nearly £9 a day for our children to get to school.
How can we accept that as reasonable?
Our children have to attend school. This is not an optional journey, a luxury or a family day out. For many of us, the school bus is essential. We work, we have younger children, and we cannot simply drive our teenagers to school and back every day.
I am not asking for special treatment for my family. I am asking why children and working families are being left with such a financial burden, and why nobody seems willing to take responsibility for finding a solution.
I have already taken my individual case through Essex County Council’s appeal process and to the Ombudsman. I have contacted our MP and the Government, and I have now started a national petition calling for a mandatory cap on school bus fares.
Tonight has only reinforced why this needs to become a national issue.
If the Council says it cannot help because it doesn’t run the buses, then I want the Government to explain what protection families have against excessive fares charged by commercial operators.
If national policy determines which children qualify for free transport, then national Government must also look at what happens to the children who don’t qualify but still need a bus to get to school.
And if nobody currently has the power or responsibility to make school bus fares affordable, then surely that is precisely what needs to change.
I am not giving up on this.
Thank you to everyone who attended tonight, contributed to the discussion and has supported me so far.
Please continue to share the petition, speak to other parents and make your voices heard. This affects more than one family, and the more united we are as a village, the harder it will be to ignore.
Our children deserve affordable access to their education. That is all I am asking for.
Thanks
Aimee