Parents vow to keep fighting transport funding cuts at Walsall special school

A protest has been organised outside the council house prior to the authority meeting on February 28, where they will make final decisions on the 2019/20 budget.

Walsall Council put forward a plan to cut the service, which is used by 97 people, to save £560,000 in the face of severe budget pressures which sees the authority having to make £20 million savings.

If the service does close, it would result in some students having to be put into out-of-hours care, and parents having to make a three-hour journey twice a day to drop off their children, it has been said.

The council have said it will instead offer alternatives such as travel training, provide a personal transport budget or issue bus passes.

But residents who use the Home to School Transport for post-16 students with special educational needs and disabilities said the loss of the service would be devastating and deprive young people of vital access to learning.

A petition fighting the proposal was handed into the last full council meeting on January 7 by Labour councillor Chris Jones.

And at previous scrutiny committee meetings, parents Jo Yarnall and Jenny Pinson – who children use the service – made emotional pleas to councillors to stop the plan being implemented.

A Facebook page has been set up by the Friends of Mary Elliot – a special school in Walsall – to drum up support for the protest.

It says: "This will have a devastating impact on the lives of all the young people and their families that will be affected.

“The council are also going to debate these cuts before they vote. The debate has been triggered by submitting a petition amassing over 1,500 signatures.

“We plan to hold a protest in the 90 minutes leading up to the meeting. We will shout loudly to demonstrate to council leaders that we will not accept cuts to this vital service!

“These cuts will not just affect young people at Mary Elliot School, but all young people in the borough who use transport to access their education at school and college.

“Even children at the special primary schools will eventually be affected. We welcome everyone who will be affected by these cuts to join us."

By Gurdip Thandi, Local Democracy Reporter