Nuthall and Giltbrook parents' fury over faith school transport axe
Parents have been left ‘furious’ and ‘disappointed’ after their children’s transport to faith schools was axed.
Reform-led Nottinghamshire Council has been reviewing its discretionary bus service that serves more than 500 pupils attending Catholic and Church of England schools.
It costs the authority around £1m a year to run the service, with the council estimating the cost over the next six years would be up to £7.5m.
But in a recent cabinet meeting, the authority agreed to end its discretionary transport to faith schools from September 2027 after it was facing ‘significant financial pressure’ across its departments, where any savings could help the council achieve its multi-million-pound savings plan.
Coun James Rawson (Ref), said: “It doesn’t feel right the majority have to pay for the minority.
"The majority have got uniform costs, the majority have got travel costs.”
Coun Rory Green (Ref) added: “It is not the state’s responsibility to drive your child to school based on your choice of place.
"I say that not in an aggressive way but in a peaceful way.”
Hannah Jones, 42, from Nuthall, is a single parent and will have two children attending Bluecoat Academy Wollaton by September 2027, when the council’s proposals would come into effect.
Speaking on the transport cuts, she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) she was ‘extremely disappointed’ by the decision and that it would have a ‘significant impact’ on her family.
She said he son’s usual 15-minute journey to school will now take around 50 minutes each way, requiring two separate public buses, which will be ‘considerably more difficult and complicated’.
She said: “I fully understand the council faces financial pressures and difficult decisions sometimes have to be made.
"However, removing the entire service without finding a way to retain at least some transport options is extremely disappointing.
Ms Jones believes no ‘meaningful compromise’ was realistically considered by the council, such as reduced services or revised routes.
She added: “It’s difficult not to feel that this was a predetermined decision.”
One Giltbrook mum, who asked not to be named, told the LDRS she was ‘furious’ over the cuts, which will now impact her son travelling to a school that will have its bus route scrapped.
Due to the changes, she is considering moving her son, who has already made his school friends, to a different school and is thinking about moving her younger daughter to a different primary school soon to ensure she can make some friends before she moves up to secondary school.
She said: “The poorest place to be is the middle of the road, which we are.
"I pay a hell of a lot of tax and council tax and my children have now got to suffer.
“He’s in year eight, he’s settled and happy, he’s going into year nine soon and he’s going to be massively impacted.
“The education standard’s great and I’m going to have to make my child suffer – it’s potentially going to affect his life.
“I work, I can’t take him to school everyday – we picked this school based on there being transport.
"The council is stripping away access on a whim, with a complete disregard for anything parents have said.”