By stewartb

I notice in a BBC article a reference to North Lanarkshire Council’s financial woes: ‘In a bid to save £3.6m in August, the Council. changed the qualifying mileage limits for free school transport from one mile to two miles for primary school pupils, and two to three miles for secondary school pupils.’

One parent is quoted by BBC Scotland saying, amongst other things: “But we’re talking about a 50 minute walk for most children, and some will be more than that. So the distance is part of it, but it’s the safety.’ Of course ‘safety’ is a critically important issue that Council’s have a duty to assess and take into account in their school transport provision.

What kind of dastardly Council increases the walking distances for children! This is just the sort of thing you get in an SNP-run Scotland is it not?

As always nowadays my benchmark is Wales and the policies implemented by its longstanding British Labour Party government in Cardiff. After all, we need to know what a British Labour Party government in Holyrood might mean after 2026.

Source: Senedd Research (October 2022) Home to school transport – a guide for constituents.

‘Walking distances: The Learner Travel (Wales) Measure 2008 sets out the distance criteria whereby learners are entitled to free transport to and from their nearest suitable school. Distances below these thresholds are referred to as ‘walking distances’. Local Authorities have a legal duty to provide free home to school transport for learners of compulsory school age.
– For those attending secondary school the distance is pupils who live 3 miles or further from their nearest suitable school;
– For primary schools, the walking distance is 2 miles.

‘The Measure sets out that the walking distance should be measured by the ‘shortest available route’. A route is considered to be ‘available’ if it is safe (as far as reasonably practicable) for a learner without a disability or learning difficulty to walk the route alone (or with an accompanying adult if the learner’s age and levels of understanding requires this).’

The Senedd document is a few years old but the same policy on walking distances pertain, as a note published recently by Bridgend County Borough Council confirms: ‘Home-to-School Transport Policy – September 2025’ (sic)
3.1. Welsh Government has defined the ‘statutory walking distance’ as two miles
for primary school pupils and three miles for secondary school pupils of
compulsory school age.
3.2. The local authority’s policy is in line with Welsh Government’s statutory
distances.’