Cost-cutting changes to school transport in Caerphilly remain on the table, as the county borough council’s leader appeals to the new Welsh Government for more funding.

The council said in March it plans to end free transport for hundreds of pupils who live within two miles of their secondary schools, along nine routes now considered ‘safe’.

Amid a backlash from campaigners – who thought they had successfully seen off the council’s previous cuts plan – Cllr Jamie Pritchard reiterated the authority’s position that Caerphilly offers the “most generous free school transport provision in the whole of Wales”.

If introduced, the current proposals would still mean secondary-aged pupils in the borough receive free school transport if they live more than two miles from their schools, whereas the national minimum distance is three miles.

But critics have doubted the council’s assessment of some routes as ‘safe’, with one accusing the authority of performing a “sleight of hand” after cancelling planned changes last year.

Among critics is Reform Senedd Member Llyr Powell, who represents Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni. Mr Powell said: “Children’s safety must come before savings, particularly for a council with reserves of over £169 million.”

Parents have also organised an online petition and held a march along one of the routes, to Heolddu Comprehensive, earlier this month against the planned cuts.

Cllr Pritchard, who leads the Labour-controlled local authority, has linked the proposed cuts to funding problems, and appeared to suggest the council’s school transport service could be protected if the new government coughed up more money.

He wrote to the Welsh Government’s new deputy minister for transport, Mark Hooper, following May’s Senedd elections to ask whether Plaid Cymru was planning to relax a national policy on minimum qualifying distances and provide more funding to local authorities.

In a response seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Hooper said it was up to councils to decide how to provide school transport, but added ministers “intend to assess” the policy, “working with local authorities to explore how access to school transport can be improved for families”.

Cllr Pritchard said he was “lobbying for more funding” as council leader and welcomed the minister’s “commitment” to reviewing the policy.

“I hope all the local Senedd Members who have been vocal about providing more generous home to school transport are also lobbying the new government,” he added.

“If we are to increase provision of free school transport, then we need more funding from the Welsh Government.”

However, Cllr Charlotte Bishop – who leads the Plaid opposition group in the council chamber – said funding for the current levels of school transport “was there in previous budgets” and dismissed the suggestion the council was trying to offer anything new or additional.

“Caerphilly Council is not being asked to increase school transport provision beyond what it already provided previously – it is actually reducing existing provision that families had relied on for years,” she said.

“While I recognise councils are under huge financial pressure and difficult decisions have to be made, choosing to cut school transport on routes many parents and residents clearly believe are unsafe was ultimately a political decision.”

Cllr Bishop said extra government funding would “of course” help council services, but “the reason this issue is now back under discussion is because of the significant public pressure and genuine safety concerns raised by families, communities and elected members across the county borough”.