Katy Clark MSP: Lockhart Campus transport cuts 'disgraceful'

Lockhart Campus opened in 2021 and offers an excellent environment for children with additional support needs to thrive at both primary and secondary school level.

The SNP-run council only provides free transport to children who live more than two miles from their school as a rule, however, Lockhart Campus has been exempt from this rule due to being a school for children with additional support needs.

This exemption has now been removed, leaving parents in Stevenston, Saltcoats, and parts of Ardrossan without school transportation for their children.

Many children at the school use wheelchairs or have other physical disabilities that make it much more difficult to make the journey to school than for other children. This cut to vulnerable children and families is disgraceful and should be reversed immediately.

This is not to mention the chaos that parents will experience if they have other children who go to different schools. Multiple school runs can be hugely stressful to manage, particularly if the parent is single or has their own workplace to get to at the end of it.

This is the latest in a series of damaging cuts from the SNP-led council to local education, following on from recent cuts to school crossing patrollers and teachers. Now, without a vote at any council committee, they have decided to remove the transport provision for Lockhart Campus children.

This is an outrageous decision and I will be fighting to have it reversed. Parents and children in the Three Towns need backing from North Ayrshire Council, not for essential services to be cut time after time.