Oxfordshire parents speak from heart over Spare Seats Scheme

Parents who live in rural areas in Oxfordshire, around 235 of them approximately, received a letter from the county council in January which warned them that the school bus was being withdrawn for eight routes.

The scheme is known as the Spare Seats Scheme and it allows parents and carers who do not qualify for free home-to-school transport to pay for seats on buses where there is space.

The council has been keen to emphasise that they have “not withdrawn the spare seats scheme overall” but they have still left around 235 families in the dark about how they will get their children to school from September.

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Council meetings can be dull and full of long-winded motions.

But this week one of the parents affected, Charlotte Cutsworth, spoke from the heart about how the withdrawal will have a “devastating effect” on her family.

Ms Cutsworth relies on the school bus to take her boys to school and she told me the scheme was “vital” in allowing her to work enough hours to satisfy the requirements of universal credit.

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Ms Cutsworth was one of only four parents who were allowed to speak at Tuesday’s council meeting.

Before the meeting even took place, parents were accusing the council of “suppressing” informed debate and “discriminating” against parents.

Parents said the council were not respecting their “democratic rights” by only allowing three parents to speak on the impact of withdrawing the scheme.

Children walking along the road (Image: Contributed)

Yes, no councillor wants to be sitting in a meeting forever, but this seemed like a very odd move on the council’s part; particularly as there were many parents who felt very strongly about their concerns.

However, it wasn’t long before I learnt that the chair of the council had already U-turned on the decision to only let three parents speak.

When you think of U-turns, what probably comes to mind is Liz Truss’ decision to fire her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng after the diastrous mini budget or Nick Clegg’s decision to row back on his pledge not to raise tuition fees.

This U-turn seemed pretty insignificant, as the number of parents allowed to speak was only raised from three to four.

Then after the meeting ended, my phone started pinging, as I was sent across pictures of councillors on their phones whilst parents were speaking.

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Now, it is important to add that the councillors caught looking at their phones have said they were looking at documents and information which was relevant to meeting.

So, whether they were or weren’t is up for debate.

It seems trivial to report on a he said, she said argument, although one parent did point out to me over the phone that surely councillors should already know the material inside out before meetings.

Slowly moving on from 'Phonegate', the county council leader Liz Leffman did issue an apology to parents for any “anxiety” she caused parents by sending the letter which informed them the Spare Seats Scheme was being withdrawn.

No matter what you think about politicians, I always think it is a sign of good character when a councillor or MP holds up their hands and admits they’ve made a mistake.

A former prime minister made the mistake of preferring to never apologise and this didn’t do his career any favours.