Bus pass axe looms
SIXTH form and faith school pupils are to bear the brunt of the latest wave of proposed cuts to bus services.
Leicestershire County Council is planning to axe the school bus subsidy for students aged 16 and over as well as for pupils of all ages attending faith schools.
The council said it also wants to scrap free travel for disabled passengers before 9.30am and for both the over-60s and disabled people after 11pm from Monday to Friday. It is also planning to withdraw transport vouchers worth £33 a year for residents with disabilities who cannot use conventional buses and for residents who live over 800 metres from an hourly bus service.
The move would hit about 3,200 concession holders in Harborough, the council said this week.
The Conservative-run authority said the move would contribute £1.3m a year towards the £74m savings it needs to make over four years.
But concern has been raised that the cuts go too far.
Pupils leaving St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Harborough have the option of attending Catholic secondary schools in Leicester.
Head teacher Karen McVea said cuts to the bus subsidy would remove that choice for many parents.
“If the bus service is not there the alternative travel arrangements might be too expensive,” Mrs McVea told the Mail.
“That removes the parental choice to send their children to the school they would like them to go to.”
But Lesley Pendleton, county council cabinet member for transport, said the authority had been forced to make some ‘tough decisions’.
“We have been funding these services above and beyond the national requirements,” she said, “however, faced with the further cuts to funding we are now having to look again at this and are asking people to have their say.”
To have your say on the consultation, which closes on April 2, click here
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Thursday 17 May 2012
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