HOME to school travel in North Yorkshire is set to undergo a major revamp, after the county council’s executive voted in favour of a raft of changes aimed at cutting a £2.4m overspend from its transport bill

The decision, made this week, follows a 12-week public consultation on the proposals, which looked at bringing North Yorkshire County Council’s policy in line with Department for Education guidelines.

The local authority has a statutory responsibility to provide travel assistance between home and school for eligible children, but the proposals looked at reducing the funding the council provided above that.

The actions include only providing mainstream school transport to children attending their catchment school or the nearest school to their home, rather than any school which is closer than the catchment school to their home.

Other proposals include ending the free arrangement for pupils whose families can demonstrate a 50/50 spilt in where the child lives during the school week, as statutory guidance “does not place any duty on local authorities to provide assistance to a second home address”.

The changes predominantly affect students in mainstream education aged between four and 16.