Council votes to withdraw religious school transport subsidies

Date: 11/4/2013

Bath and North East Somerset Council has voted to gradually withdraw the transport subsidies it provides to parents who send their children to Catholic and Church of England schools.

As the Bath Chronicle reports, local authorities met yesterday (April 10th) to assess proposals to reduce the £258,000 currently spent on travel for primary and secondary pupils at religious schools.

And after considering various options, the cabinet unanimously voted in favour of a phased withdrawal of funding over a seven year period, which will begin to take effect from September 2014.

Local families are said to have packed out the hall where the meeting was taking place, with Head Teacher of St Gregory’s Catholic College and St Mark's CE School Raymond Friel warning that withdrawing the subsidy could have a negative knock-on effect.

But Councillor Dine Romero explained that in spite of the benefits of free travel, the scheme was no longer a priority.

"These are times of austerity and we need to think really carefully about which discretionary services we need to continue," she said.

Posted by Sarah Bailey

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