Conservative Controlled Monmouthshire Ends Free Student Travel

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 30th Jun 2005

Free School transport for students aged over 16, travelling over three miles, is set to be abolished by Conservative-controlled Monmouthshire County Council.

The cabinet of the county council voted yesterday to charge £200-a-year starting in September 2005 for young people to travel to continue their education. The decision came despite continuing concerted opposition from the Liberal Democrats.

The issue had already been subject of a 'call-in' moved by Welsh Liberal Democrat County Councillor Douglas Edwards from Abergavenny. Speaking at the meeting, Cllr. Edwards said, "Monmouthshire is now one of few local authorities in Wales that will introduce charges for students to travel to local sixth forms and colleges. This will hit rural families and students hard and introduces barriers to access education that did not exist before."

Stinging criticism came from Cllr. Phil Hobson, Welsh Liberal Democrat group leader who alleged that the Conservative administration had indulged in 'spin' to justify the introduction of the new policy.

"We have seen the council say that there has been a half-hearted response to the consultation. In fact the opposite is true. If the council's own figures suggest that in the first year around 250 families are affected, then receiving over 40 letters of protest is a huge proportion in protest. The council sent of letters via pupil post - a very unreliable method, because officers said it would have been a logistical nightmare to find out exactly who was affected and sending letters directly to the parents concerned. This hardly bodes well when they come to operate the scheme."

Cllr. Hobson further attacked the policy by saying, "The administration is saying that 'although the council had decided to charge sixth formers, they were still being subsidising the cost by £630 per student per year'."

"The point of the public education system is subsided - the whole package including transport. Tax payers do not pay for education at the point of use. In fact, rural families have already paid for the children to attend school by bus - and now this authority is introducing 'hotel charges' into education."

However, Cllr. Hobson went further by alleging that the council was 'milking' rural families who had no choice but to pay-up, in order to meet savings targets imposed by the Labour Assembly Government.

"We know that the Labour Assembly Government is insisting upon efficiency savings of 1 per cent year on year for five years. That means Monmouthshire has to find and save approximately £120,000 in the current financial year. It is quite convenient that this 'education tax on wheels' will provide savings in the region that the Labour Assembly Government are seeking."

After the meeting, Cllr. Hobson commented, "I find it telling that no one from the Conservative administration was willing to refute my allegation that this policy is driven by the need to find savings being imposed from Cardiff Bay. We have lost this battle. We frankly could have done with support from other opposition groups: Labour has been absent from this issue."

Michael German, Welsh Liberal Democrat area AM, commented, "The introducing of this policy is a retrograde step. Many constituents have contacted me in protest about these charges - some families clearly will have difficulty in managing to pay after being hit so hard by Council Tax rebanding - which has had an adverse affect on rural Monmouthshire."

"The danger of these charges is that they can be the beginning of something new: no where in council papers is there a guarantee that charges will not be increased in the future."

Monmouthshire Council plan to scrap free bus travel for students

"The conservatives find themselves on a sticky wicket. They will have trouble justifying this new policy to rural voters when they come up for re-election."