The decision by North Yorkshire Council to stop funding some free bus travel for secondary school-aged children has caused great concern over the summer holidays among village families. Parents whose children attend Ripon Grammar School now face paying over £800 a year for their children to travel on the same bus as those children who attend Ripon's Outwood Academy, for whom bus travel from home to school remains free.

The two secondary schools are opposite each other and buses with pupils attending both schools use the same car park for both drop-off and pick-up and have done so for many years. Up until the end of the last academic year, free bus travel had been offered to pupils of both schools.

Last year, however, North Yorkshire Council changed its home to school transport policy in a bid to save more than £4m and now only funds transport to the closest school, rather than any school in a catchment area. After measurements showed that the Grammar School was 194ft (59m) further away than Outwood Academy parents were informed that the local authority would no longer fund free bus journeys for Grammar School pupils.

A parent in the village contacted the Parish Council about this issue. The Parish Council has recently written to the NYC Councillor representing Bishop Monkton, Councillor Nick Brown, to pass on its concerns, pointing out the absurdity of a situation where a bus pass is allocated based on the walking distance to the school.

The letter states “ Irrespective of the rights or wrongs of selective education, that is what we have in Ripon. One of the 'benefits' is that it allows children from disadvantaged backgrounds to attend a Grammar School based on an entrance exam. This bus policy works against this ethos and disadvantages those families that do not have enough cars or spare time to transport their children to school actually following a NYC service bus going to exactly to same place”.

Chairman, Dean Culshaw, on behalf of the Council, concludes the letter by saying “I was disappointed to learn that you (Councillor Brown) supported this clearly ridiculous policy but wanted to let you have the opportunity to represent our concerns to whoever is responsible for this poor decision and ask them to reconsider the decision given the very unique circumstances regarding Bishop Monkton and the proximity of the two Ripon Schools”.

The Council's letter can be read in full on the Parish Council's own website, please click here.