PENRITH and the Border MP Rory Stewart has welcomed a decision by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) which will see a number of Ravenstonedale families reimbursed for school transport costs charged by Cumbria County Council.
Following the closure of Ravenstonedale Endowed School earlier this year, the authority charged parents for transport to the nearest open primary school in Kirkby Stephen.
Mr Stewart, alongside local councillors, supported the residents' appeal to the LGO, arguing that CCC was avoiding its statutory obligations to provide free transport to pupils under 16 years of age, placing an 'unfair' demand on parents to meet 'substantial costs' themselves.
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"I am so pleased the Ombudsman has sided with Ravenstonedale families, who should never have been made to pay these charges," said Mr Stewart.
“The council has a statutory obligation to provide free transport for students under the age of 16, and their attempts to charge Ravenstonedale families for transport costs to Kirkby Stephen Primary School, when it had become the de facto nearest schools their children could attend, was nonsensical.”
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