Suffolk parents and schools will not have a say on controversial changes to school transport until next year after a challenge by opposition members of the county council.
However the Conservative administration at Suffolk County Council remains confident that the delay to consultation will not affect the timetable for the changes.
The consultation should have started this week and be completed by Christmas after being approved by the county’s cabinet last month. However the authority’s scrutiny committee ruled the cabinet should look at it again – and next week’s meeting was too soon for all the issues to be reconsidered.
It will now be considered by the cabinet in November or December – but councillors do not want the consultation to span Christmas so it will probably be launched in early January to run until March. Councillors will then look at the results before deciding whether to implement the changes for September 2019.
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