Powys County Council have been criticised for their “inflexible” free school transport policy.

Younger siblings are set to be denied access to free home to school transport to a particular school when an older sibling has existing free transport to said school.

Jenni Hughes-Ellis, whose son had been refused free transport to Llanidloes CP School, previously set up a petition calling for the council to review and change its policy. The petition, which coincided with Powys Council’s consultation on school admission arrangements and catchment maps, received 802 online signature.

Montgomeryshire MS Russell George has also called for the council’s home-to-school transport policy to be reviewed.

Current Powys County Council policy means that due to marginal distances involved in crossovers of catchment areas, some children are being denied free transport to go to the same school as older siblings, leaving parents with a choice of sending their children to separate schools or finding alternative transport for one of their children.

Mr George is calling for the council to be “more flexible in its decision-making process”: ‘’I have written to Powys County Council, outlining several measures that I think are fair and reasonable. The measures I have set out can help solve this issue and provide a fair system for the whole of Powys.

“Pupils should not have more choice in some parts of the county than others and free home to school transport should still be provided to respect that some communities have long standing links with a particular secondary school which may not be their closest school.’’