"It’s all coming down to a number on a budget, rather than the safety of our children."
Families of children in Rhondda Cynon Taf are worried about the ongoing safety impacts of the changes to free school transportation.
Hello and welcome to The Valleys Lead.
How did you manage in the this week’s heat wave? Fans in every room? Paddle pools? Feet in a bowl full of cold water? Or maybe you are embracing it, sunbathing in the garden?
The heat ties into today’s story on school transport in Rhondda Cynon Taf, where there will have been children who walked up to six miles to and from school, dripping in sweat, and carrying a heavy backpack, due to school transport changes that came into effect at the start of the school year. That’s the story we’ve got for you.
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The Valleys Briefing
(A little round-up of some stories in brief from our valleys. Anytime you have something you’d like to share, no matter how big or small, email laurencrosbymedlicott@gmail.com):
If you’ve been in Merthyr Tydfil, no doubt you would have noticed lots of building work at Cyfarthfa Castle. Drainage improvements at the castle are expected to be completed in the next few months, with roof repairs due to be finished next year. “By tacking these issues now, we are taking proactive steps to preserve this iconic landmark and reduce the risk of more significant deterioration in the future,” a spokesperson for the Council said.
Bit of fun news. A proposal for an indoor golf simulator in Bedwas has been granted planning permission, subject to conditions including that it must only be used as a golf simulator and not for wider leisure purposes.
Lis McLean MS for Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr has called on the UK Government to provide additional long-term funding to address the legacy of coal tips across Wales. In the last Senedd, there was strong cross-party support for improving coal tip safety, which led to the passing of the Unused Mines and Quarries Dumps (Wales) Act 2025. The legislation will see a new Unused Dumps Authority established in Merthyr Tydfil, creating around 60 skilled jobs. The Act led both the Welsh and UK Governments to commit more than £100 million towards coal tip safety. However, significant concerns remain about whether current funding levels are sufficient to address the scale of the challenge facing communities across the valleys. “The establishment of the Authority is an important step forward in managing and monitoring Wales’s coal tip legacy, while also bringing valuable employment opportunities to the local area,” she said. “However, while I welcome the investment made by both the Welsh and UK Governments, it is clear that the scale of Wales’s coal tip legacy requires a long-term commitment and potentially much greater resources. Communities across the Valleys deserve confidence that the risks associated with disused coal tips are being fully addressed. The legacy of coal extraction in Wales predates devolution, and the UK Government must recognise the unique challenges Wales faces and ensure that restoration funding matches the scale of the task ahead.”
“It’s all coming down to a number on a budget, rather than the safety of our children.”
It has been over a month since Tina Collins, who represents Save the School Transport RCT/Wales, wrote to Rhondda Cynon Taf Council about concerns regarding the safety and wellbeing of 11- to 15-year-old children walking up to six miles a day to and from school.
“We wrote to RCT Council because they had a new leader put in place,” Collins told The Valleys Lead. “The call for a meeting is a follow up to meet the new leader and to discuss with her and the transport officer of RCT about the changes to school transport that have been in place from September 2025. It’s a month later and we are still waiting on a response.”
Collins’ request to meet with RCT Council wasn’t the first – she’s been back and forth with the RCT Council and Welsh Government for more than a year, practically begging for someone to listen to the concerns of hundreds of families throughout the Borough, and take action to protect children.
Last spring, RCT Council announced that from September 2025, only children who lived three of more miles away from their secondary school would receive free school transportation, a change from the previous threshold of two miles or more.
“On 20 March 2024 the Council’s Cabinet approved amendments to the school transport policy, to revert to the Welsh Government statutory walking distance to secondary schools and colleges of three miles,” Claire Davies, Communications and Marketing Advisor at Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, told The Valleys Lead.
“The revised Home to School Transport Policy aligns transport provision more closely with Welsh Government statutory transport requirements and are necessary for the Council to maintain affordability within future financial constraints, continue to be able to meet its statutory requirements, and maintain discretionary transport for its most vulnerable users,” Davies said. “Prior to its introduction, the walking routes to school were reviewed and assessed using the criteria laid down by the Welsh Government Statutory Guidance for the Risk Assessment of Walked Routes to School. These assessments were undertaken independently by an external organisation and are therefore considered final.”
The change was a cost-saving measure for the Council, but Collins said the Council didn’t consult with parents beforehand (although Davies did say they was an “extensive nine week consultation” prior to the decision), didn’t put in safety mitigation, didn’t have a transition period, and didn’t consider the needs of families before making the decision.
“It’s all down to money,” Collins said. “It’s all coming down to a number on a budget, rather than the safety of our children. Families are suffering because of it.”
When Lucie Jones, a 45-year-old mother to a son in Year 8 received the letter about the changes last year, she thought to herself: Hang on a minute. We weren’t consulted on this.
“We absolutely would have pushed back if we had known about the plans,” Lucie told The Valleys Lead.
Both Lucie and her husband work full-time and have always depended on free school transport to drop their son home after school.
“We live in Llanharry, and my son goes to Y Pant Comprehensive in Pontyclun,” she said. “We’re just under three miles away from the school.”
Since September, their son has had to often walk nearly three miles home with a five-kilogram backpack – in the rain, in the blazing heat, and in the autumn and winter months – in the dark.
“It’s a 50-minute walk,” she said.
Lucie’s worried about his road safety, so encourages him to take public transportation.
“He queues up for the public bus and older kids have shoved him out of the queue,” she said. “He ends up at the back and can’t get on because it’s full. Or he doesn’t get to the bus in time because he doesn’t have time to make it after his last lesson ends.”
Occasionally, Lucie skips lunch so she can collect him, but otherwise, he takes the bus (if he can fit onto one) or walks.
Other parents have got it worse, Lucie said.
