School Transport

Debate between Nigel Evans and Mark Pawsey

Thursday 25th June 2015 Westminster Hall

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Walker.

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Ribble Valley (Mr Evans) on securing the debate. I endorse all the remarks he made in his eloquent, articulate speech. His debate is timely: only this morning, I received an email from a parent in my constituency asking for my views on the school transport proposals. I should explain that Warwickshire County Council has, like Lancashire County Council, embarked on a consultation on changes to the supply of school transport for children whose parents do not choose their closest school. The consultation opened on Tuesday and runs until 17 September. If the proposals are adopted, children who enter secondary school this year or in September 2016 will not be affected, but those who start in September 2017 will be—by exactly the changes that my hon. Friend the Member for Ribble Valley spoke of.

In Rugby, the issue is grammar schools. My hon. Friend spoke about the impact on parents who wish their children to attend faith-based schools, single-sex schools or grammar schools. In Rugby, we have retained a selective system and in that respect are relatively unique in east Warwickshire. We have spectacular grammar schools in Lawrence Sheriff school, of which I am proud to be a product and therefore have a vested interest in, and Rugby high school, where my daughter is a pupil. We also have a bilateral school, Ashlawn school, which has a grammar stream alongside the secondary modern stream. Those schools are very popular with parents. An enormous number of children sit examinations to secure places there, and some parents move to Rugby simply to gain access to its schools.

The email I received this morning is from a parent who lives in the village of Binley Woods, to which I also have a connection because I grew up there. I travelled from Binley Woods to Lawrence Sheriff school in Rugby every day—a journey of about 8 miles. The email says:

“My son is due to attend Lawrence Sheriff School in September.”

My constituent’s son will not be affected by the proposals because they will not take effect for her son’s entry. However, there might be a concern if Warwickshire County Council makes changes similar to those that Lancashire is considering. What would happen if her son goes to the grammar school in September and a change is made thereafter? If any county council makes such a change, I hope that children who entered schools before the change will continue to get discretionary support.

My hon. Friend drew attention to an absurd example in his constituency, and I will give the Minister another. My constituent tells me that the allocated non-selective school for children who live in Binley Woods is Bilton school. That is a very good school that I visit regularly, but it is 8 miles away. Lawrence Sheriff school is just as far away. We have an absurd situation where a child who does well in a selective exam and goes to the appropriate school for their abilities—the school that will bring them on best in life—will have their travel paid for if they choose to turn down a place at the grammar school because the secondary modern, Bilton, is closest. However, if the child, having worked hard, takes the place they have secured at the grammar school, their transport will not be paid for. That is absolutely crazy and cannot happen.

My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the issue of students from low-income backgrounds. Warwickshire County Council’s policy states that the discretionary payment would continue to apply to families with relatively modest means, whether or not Warwickshire makes the change, but my concern is the parents who fall short of that category. There is something of a cliff face here. For a parent, the cost of paying for transport to a grammar school is conceivably a reason for their child not to take up a place there.

I attended a grammar school and am a great supporter of retaining our grammar schools. I sat in a class with fellow pupils from ordinary backgrounds, with parents who were engineers, electricians or worked in cement factories. Those pupils took advantage of their grammar school education and went on to do well in life. There is a grave danger of putting a barrier in people’s way by denying them the opportunity to access the excellent education that our grammar schools provide. I join my hon. Friend on this issue. I have made my views clear today and will make my own representation to the consultation.

Will the Minister consider extending the statutory requirements to include parents who wish their child to go to a school other than the nearest one? Will he also comment on the absurd situation where two schools are almost exactly the same distance away and transport is paid for a pupil going to one but not the other?

[Mr Nigel Evans]

Is my hon. Friend somewhat suspicious, as I am, of such consultations? Lancashire, too, had a consultation. There is no doubt in my mind that the vast majority of people would say, “We prefer the system to carry on as it is and that the county uses its discretion.” Irrespective of how persuasive I know my hon. Friend and his constituents can be, my suspicion is that the consultation will end up saying, “Well, I’m sorry, we have to save the money. They do this in Lancashire and several other places, and we’re going to force people to pay.”

[Mark Pawsey]

My hon. Friend makes a fair point about consultations. I will, however, be making representations and I will encourage the parents whom I come into contact with in my constituency to make representations to Warwickshire County Council in the same way. We understand the pressure on local government finance and it is entirely right for local authorities to look wherever they can to avoid excessive expenditure—to get more for less and to spend taxpayers’ money wisely—but not in a situation such as this. I am horrified on behalf of bright and capable children from households just outside the category eligible for support; the measure might act as a disincentive against such youngsters coming forward, putting their name in for the selection exam and getting an education that could enable them to do well later in life.

I will take the consultation at face value, and I will continue to lobby county councillors in Warwickshire so that they know and understand the possible consequences. I am pretty certain about our representations during the consultation.

National Planning Policy Framework

Debate between Nigel Evans and Mark Pawsey

Thursday 26th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

I express my gratitude to my hon. Friends for their courtesy. I speak as a member of the Select Committee on Communities and Local Government, which undertook an inquiry into the draft NPPF that came out in July last year.

It is important to understand the reasons for change, as people were not involved in the planning system. Many Members were councillors previously, and, of all the issues in which district councils were involved, the one that people understood least was planning. The system was very technical, with thousands of pages of guidance; house building was at very low levels, with 230,000 houses needed a year, and fewer than 100,000 delivered over an extensive period; the planning costs on businesses were significantly higher in Britain than throughout Europe; and the time taken to gain consent for planning was much longer here than elsewhere.

The hon. Member for City of Durham (Roberta Blackman-Woods) was rather uncharitable in her remarks about the draft NPPF, because it was precisely that, a draft and for discussion, but in 2011 it led to an alarmist response. People talked about it destroying the countryside, concreting over the green belt and being a developers’ charter. There was even criticism of its very brevity—something that was a real benefit of the proposals to condense planning issues.

The Government have listened, and it is pleasing for the Committee that 30 of its 35 proposals have been adopted. I was delighted that the Minister was able a couple of days ago to catalogue the many bodies whose attitudes have changed, not least those sporting bodies and, in particular, the Sport and Recreation Alliance.

I shall deal with two or three key provisions, the first being enshrining the community role. I am delighted that my constituency has one of the neighbourhood planning frontrunners, in Coton Park. It was believed that the measure would be a charter for nimbys, but that is not at all the case, because people’s attitude towards development depends on how the question is posed. If they are asked, “Do you want to see a field built on?” their answer will be very different from the answer to the question, “Do you think that we need to provide housing in this community and somewhere for young people to get a start on the housing ladder?” I am very pleased that the first neighbourhood plan to be brought forward, in Dawlish, supports the development of housing. It shows that the fears of many people have been allayed.

The NPPF enshrines also the importance of the local plan. In a Select Committee hearing, I asked the Minister, “What took precedence? The presumption in favour of sustainable development or the local plan?” and his response was categorical: decisions must be made in accordance with the local plan. The local plan is supreme, and I am delighted that my local authority has had its local plan in place for a number years. I fail to understand why so many authorities have been tardy in putting their local plans in place. When development proposals come forward under the new regime, the first criterion will be how they stack up against the local plan. Authorities must make plan making a greater priority, rather than trying to manage the development of their area by development control.

Not only does the NPPF maintain existing provisions, but in many respects it enhances them. We now have additional protection for gardens, which recognises that gardens are green. That will do away with a lot of the garden grabbing. I am pleased that the proposals—

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. I apologise to the hon. Gentleman. I call Mr Jack Dromey.