What are we proposing to change?
Currently, if a child is eligible for home to school transport, they may be transported to either their nearest suitable school or one based on Central Bedfordshire Council school catchment areas.
However, we are proposing removing the ‘catchment school’ criteria in our current policy and only provide home to school transport to a child’s ‘nearest suitable school’ (with available places) in future for new transport arrangements.
The ‘nearest suitable school’ criteria, considers all surrounding schools, including those in and outside Central Bedfordshire, which includes Bedford Borough, Milton Keynes and Luton.
Parent/carers will still be able to apply for any school. However, under this proposed change, we would only provide transport to the child’s nearest suitable school. Therefore, if a parent/carer chooses to send their child to a school further away, it will be their responsibility to get their child to school.
There are some exemptions, if the proposed change is approved. The revised criteria would continue to not apply to:
- pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), are exempt as it is a separate transport policy
- pupils placed at a school by the Council, are exempt (for example, due to a lack of spaces at the pupil’s nearest school)
- Post-16 transport is exempt as it is a separate transport policy
There will of course be instances which are more complex than those outlined above, and we will review those on a case-by-case basis.
The new policy, if agreed, will only apply to new school transport applications for the next academic year (September 2026) and all existing mainstream arrangements will be honoured.
There are currently 4,331 pupils using home to school transport. Of those, 1,563 pupils are attending a catchment school and not their nearest school. All these pupils, including those 1,563 pupils currently not attending their nearest school will continue to receive home to school transport until they leave their current establishment.
As we are still accepting applications under the current policy. Any eligible pupils under the current policy during the school academic year in 2025 will also be honoured, and continue to receive home to school transport until they leave their current establishment.
Parent/carers will still be able to apply for any school. However, under this proposed change, we would only provide transport to the child’s nearest suitable school. Therefore, if a parent/carer chooses to send their child to a school further away, it will be their responsibility to get their child to school.
We’ve provided maps in Appendix 1 to help people understand what this change will mean in future. The maps have been produced for illustrative purposes on the nearest school areas across Central Bedfordshire.
For actual and exact Home to School transport eligibility, we use a Schools Transport mapping system, that calculates the distance from a student's home address to the nearest school using available walking routes or roads.
If you are unclear where your nearest school is, you can contact the School Transport team on htst.consultation@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk during the consultation.
Useful information
Find out more about schools in Central Bedfordshire. This includes details about current place availability.
Find out more about schools in neighbouring local authority areas:
Find out more about public transport routes in Central Bedfordshire.
Some schools also provide their own transport – you will need to check directly with the school to find out more about this.