Children and parents protest outside village school over North Yorkshire Council’s home-to-school transport policy

Around 70 people took part in the protest before lessons began at Appleton Roebuck Primary School, near Tadcaster, on Friday morning.

Campaigners say North Yorkshire Council’s new home-to-school transport, which means free transport is only available to a child’s nearest, has “split the village in two”.

It means some children starting secondary school in September are eligible for free transport to the catchment school, Tadcaster Grammar, but others are only able to get a free bus pass to a school in York.

Kathy Walker, from the School Transport Action Group, which is fighting the policy change, said: “It’s been a real shock for everyone, especially for half the village whose kids won’t get a bus pass to their catchment school.

“The aim of the protest was to highlight to the whole village what’s happening.

“People who have received a bus pass came out to take part, which shows that people are upset by the change, whether they are affected or not.”

Mrs Walker said her sister Ruth Walker, who lived in the village, was a GP in Selby.

She said the council has calculated that the family home was six metres closer to a school in York than to Tadcaster Grammar School, which is the village’s catchment school.

Kathy added: “It’s just madness.

"We think she holds the record for the lowest distance that prevents her from getting a bus pass to their catchment school.

“She’s a GP so can’t exactly tell her parents not to come in because she’s got to drive her children to school.”

The village is in the Appleton Roebuck and Church Fenton division and is represented by Conservative councillor Andrew Lee, who voted in favour of the police change.

Councillor Lee said he had been asked numerous questions about the policy by parents and was seeking answers from officers and senior colleagues.

He said: “The council is under a lot of pressure to make savings so that decision has to be made.

“But we need to make sure that we’re not just following the policy for the sake of it and if certain workarounds can be used in certain cases.

“These are the issues in my village.

"Other councillors are experiencing other or similar issues, and all of us are obviously asking questions just in the way that residents are.

“I’ve said that I will be reporting back to my residents once I have the answers.”

The policy change, which was agreed last July and will take affect from September, will be implemented over a seven-year period.