Helen Goodman

Helen has joined parents, pupils and teachers in condemning Durham County Council’s proposed changes to the post-16 transport system.

A new system of funding for post-16 transport is set to come into force in September, which will see a cut of £300,000 in the Council’s budget, and could see pupils forced to pay up to £100 per-term in transport costs.

Helen has campaigned against these proposals for several months and has written a strongly worded letter to Durham County Council (DCC) urging them to reconsider their proposed new system.

Helen said:
“Every child should have the right to free school transport until the age of 18, and the imposition of costly transport arrangements can only serve to deter pupils from remaining in full-time education”.

Helen also expressed her concern about the manner in which DCC had announced their proposals and the “haphazard” development of Council policy in the past few months.

Helen said:
“The Council has provided wholly unsatisfactory information and guidance concerning the new system, and parents and pupils cannot therefore be expected to make informed decisions on these complex funding proposals”.

“The longer this process has been going on, the more it appears the Council have been devising policy on the hoof: responding to objections and patching-up the inconsistencies and impracticalities of the draft proposals”

Following numerous correspondence from constituents in Teesdale, Helen has also urged the Council to look again at the impact these changes will have on rural communities:

Helen said:
“Many of my rural constituents remain concerned that they will be disproportionately affected by the new post-16 transport arrangements and, due to the lack of clarity to the Council’s proposals, I have been unable to allay their fears”.

Underpinning Helen’s concern over these proposals is the fear that the Council have not sufficiently considered the consequences of the new system.

Helen said:
It appears the Council’s primary concern throughout this process has been simply to reduce the cost of the existing system. This they have achieved, but at the expense of providing a regular, flexible and affordable service that meets the needs of rural and urban communities while encouraging a shift away from personal car use.

“The logical upshot of the Council’s proposals is a decline in the number of post-16 students in full-time education, a reduction in the usage of public transport, and an increase in congestion, pollution and the number of young drivers on the roads.

“I do not believe these dire consequences can possibly be outweighed by the £300,000 that Durham County Council plans to save by these cost-cutting measures”