Parents demand answers over transport maps in North Yorkshire
Routes reportedly stopped at random points within school grounds
Campaigners are demanding transparency from North Yorkshire Council after it refused to release the maps used to decide children’s eligibility for free school transport, amid growing claims of serious inaccuracies in the system.
Members of the School Transport Action Group (STAG) say the council’s decision to restrict access to the maps, which determine the distance from a child’s home to their nearest school, came only after they began exposing multiple alleged mapping errors.
Under the council’s new transport policy, introduced last year to help cut its £52 million annual school transport bill, children only qualify for free transport to their nearest qualifying school.
However, STAG claims its independent tests using maps previously provided to 24 schools found that none of the routes ended at the correct school gate, as the council’s own rules require.
Instead, routes reportedly stopped at random points within school grounds. In other cases, the starting points were said to be inaccurate, beginning from neighbouring houses, side streets or even fields rather than the pupil’s actual home address.
The group also alleges that some mapped routes deemed the “shortest available walked route” cross private land, rivers, and even Ministry of Defence firing ranges.
"This has the potential to be a systemic breach"
A STAG spokesperson said: “This matters because in many cases the difference between a child’s first, second and third nearest school is marginal — we’re talking about distances measured in feet, not miles.
“Even small mapping errors can completely change whether a family qualifies for free transport to their first-choice school.
“If our findings are confirmed, it means every single distance measurement made since the policy came into force last September would be wrong — and there are families out there who have been unjustly denied school transport.
“This has the potential to be a systemic breach of North Yorkshire Council’s own rules and a classic case of maladministration on a grand scale.”
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), parents currently applying for school places in September 2026 are being told they can only view the names and distances of their seven nearest schools.
Requests for the underlying route maps or data showing how the distances were calculated are reportedly being refused, unless a family formally appeals a denied transport application.
STAG has written to senior council officers and councillors demanding an explanation, accusing the authority of “stonewalling” families.
“It’s time this council owned up to its mistakes rather than hiding behind secrecy,” the group added.
"left in the dark"
One parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “It’s impossible to make informed choices when we’re left in the dark. We’re being asked to trust data that the council has already been shown to get wrong.”
In response, Amanda Fielding, North Yorkshire Council’s assistant director for inclusion, defended the process: "It is not uncommon for children to attend a school in neighbouring authority areas, thousands of children travel to and from neighbouring areas every day.
“We have a duty to provide transport to eligible children and we want to ensure this is in a safe, efficient and cost-effective way.
"When measuring distances from home to school, the distance is calculated from each home address to the nearest entrance gate identified within our mapping system following the nearest available walked route (this can include footpaths, bridleways and public rights of way).
“Our mapping system is updated on an annual basis and was last updated in September 2025.
"The methodology for measuring distances in this way is aligned to Department for Education guidance for local authorities.
“It is important to note that eligibility for travel is only decided after a pupil is offered a place in a school.”
Despite the council’s assurances, campaigners insist that until the maps are made public, parents cannot have confidence in the fairness or accuracy of the policy that determines whether their children can get to school for free.