Coventry City Council urged to drop school bus cuts

Pupils are expected to rely on public routes if school bus services are stopped in September

Coventry City Council is facing calls to reverse its decision to stop funding five school bus routes as part of budget cuts.

The council is planning to scrap the bus services to save £128,000 this year to help shore up its finances.

Labour MP Zarah Sultana has said she is concerned the move will leave pupils "in the lurch".

The council has not responded, but has previously said it was at risk of effectively becoming bankrupt.

Opposition Conservative councillors, however, say the bus routes could be protected if spending is reduced in other areas.

They will put forward their plan to maintain the bus services when the Labour-run council meets to sign off the budget on Tuesday.

Tory councillors say there has been outcry from parents, with hundreds signing petitions against the council's proposal to pull funding.

The bus routes serve about 400 children who attend the Bishop Ullathorne and Blue Coat schools.

Coventry City Council stepped in to keep the services going after a private provider went bust during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

Richard Brown said the council could face a "challenge" if it needed to settle pay claims

The council is looking to make about £8.5m in total service savings, to reduce a £20m gap in its finances this year.

There are plans to switch off 70% of overnight street lighting, charge £40 a year for the collection of garden waste, and increase council tax by 4.99%.

The council has repeatedly warned it is at risk of effectively going bankrupt in the coming years without more funding from the government.

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Ms Sultana, the Labour MP for Coventry South, said reductions in government funding over the last decade had put the council "in an impossible financial situation".

But she said she felt "every school child should have an easy, safe journey to school".

"I'm concerned that stopping this subsidised service now will leave those school kids in the lurch," Ms Sultana added.

MP Zarah Sultana said every child "should have an easy, safe journey to school"

The MP said she would be engaging with Transport for West Midlands to "try and find an alternative".

The Conservatives have set out their plan to save the bus routes in an amendment to the budget, which will be voted on.

But councillors are expected to approved the budget without any amendments, as Labour has a majority on the council.

"We recognise the considerable scale of the challenge faced by the council this year," said Peter Male, deputy leader of the Conservative group.

"However, we cannot ignore the legitimate concerns of parents who are worried about school transport."

Last week Richard Brown, the council's cabinet member for finance, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service funding for the routes was only introduced after an operator collapsed.

He said he was happy to talk with partners about alternative funding options before the buses are stopped in September.