North Yorkshire Council has been warned that its home-to-school transport policy risks causing the death of a remote Dales community after local families were refused free transport for their children to attend their catchment school.

Parents in Oughtershaw, in Upper Wharfedale, have been told the council will only pay for transport to Hawes Primary School, in Wensleydale, and not the school in Kettlewell, where children from the hamlet have traditionally attended.

The change is due to a new council policy, which means free transport is only provided to a child’s nearest suitable school.

Parents David and Helen Thomas are one of several families who have lost appeals against the decision by the council, despite arguing that the school route to Hawes over Fleet Moss is often impassable during the winter due to snow and ice and completely unsuitable for use by school transport.

David and Helen Thomas with their children, Willow and Ash.

placeholder image — David and Helen Thomas with their children, Willow and Ash.

The couple say sending their children, Willow, seven and five-year-old Ash, over the moors to Hawes is too dangerous, meaning their only options are to pay more than £800 per child a year for seats on the school bus — seats that can be withdrawn at a week’s notice — or take their children to school themselves.

The couple moved to the Dales five years ago and run a farm diversification scheme with Mr Thomas’ parents.

Mr Thomas said that if the controversial policy had been in place then, they would not have moved to the area.

He added: “Every single person we’ve spoken to over the last three months about the policy, especially since they found out we’ve lost the appeal, have said that it is the death of this community.

“Our neighbours are retirees, and they have a 106 agreement on their property so it’s reserved for local people, but they’re applying for it to be removed based on this policy because how will any family move here ever again?”

At present, the Kettlewell School bus comes to Oughtershaw to take children still eligible for school transport, stopping outside the Thomas’ home.

The family then follow the bus to school in their own car.

The couple believe the policy conflicts with the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s management plan, which looks to attract young families to live and work in the Dales.

They have also questioned how the policy will lead to savings when they were told by a local taxi service, which provides school transport, that it would cost £23,000 a year to take their two children to school in Hawes.

Buckden Parish Council has also raised concerns about the impact of the policy on the community.

Councillor Peter Vetch, vice chair, said issues were raised with North Yorkshire Council about the impact and implementation of the policy on rural communities during the consultation process.

He added: “We were advised that there would be a robust appeals process with discretion to ensure that common sense would prevail.

“It is clear that the appeals process is neither robust nor reasonable and that strict interpretation of the policy as written takes precedence over financial, environmental and children’s safety considerations.

“The long-term impact of the illogicality of some aspects of the policy, combined with the compromised appeals process, will be to discourage young families from staying in or moving to these remote communities.”

The School Transport Action Group, which was formed to fight the rule change, said the issues faced by the Thomas family and others in Oughetershaw highlighted the “damage” the policy was causing.

A spokesperson added: “It’s soul-destroying to hear of yet another example of the harm this dangerous policy is doing to young families, to rural communities and to local schools.”

Coun Richard Foster, who represents the Wharfedale division and is also a member of the council executive, said there were “always winners and losers” with any policy, and Oughtershaw was a loser in this case.

“The families are still fighting and rightly so, in my opinion. It’s a huge amount of money that we spend every year on school transport and we need to make savings.”

He added: “What I would say is that the policy implementation review process is ongoing and I’m still hopeful that for these really remote villages, we can sort something out for them.”

In response to the criticism of the policy, North Yorkshire Council’s assistant director for inclusion, Amanda Fielding, said: “We want to ensure eligible children and young people get to school in a safe, efficient and cost-effective way and at the same time our home-to-school transport policy aims to be fair to all families.

“While we do not comment on individual cases, the appeals process is available to families who wish to present exceptional circumstances to a panel for review.”