Plans for charging for concessionary bus passes will be scrapped following an amendment made by the council’s cabinet member for education.

Pembrokeshire County Council’s cabinet had been recommended to change its plan to charge all pupils £1 each way for their concessionary seats to only new starters, but Cllr Woodham called for the plan to be scrapped.

At Monday’s (February 15) cabinet meeting Cllr Woodham said that he had changed his view about the proposals in light of the reduced savings predicted and the increasing level of child poverty in the county.

He added that in order to start tackling child poverty the introduction of charges “doesn’t fit comfortably with me, where we could be putting an added burden on to some families that already struggling.”

In 2019 it was decided that a charge of £1 each way would be charged to pupils not entitled to free school transport – either because they lived within a distance of two or three miles or went to an out of catchment school – with its introduction delayed due to the pandemic.

Cllr Paul Miller welcomed the amendment, adding: “I have not been supportive of this proposal throughout and it’s good we have finally wrestled it back into its box.”

He added that the small amount of revenue generated in the “overall scope of the authority’s budget” did not merit restrictions an access to education.

Cllr Michelle Bateman said that circumstances led her to change her view on the proposal, with further support for Cllr Woodham’s proposal from rural councillors Neil Prior and Cris Tomos.

Cllr Woodham’s amendment that cabinet accept the report of the director of communities but did not introduce a £1 per journey charge at this time was unanimously supported.