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Councillor Levy proposed an amendment to
Councillor Kerr’s amendment under CPR 14.1 (vi).  The new amendment was accepted by the proposer and
seconder of the original amendment.
 
Council voted to take the new amendment with
39 votes in favour, 21 against and no abstentions.
 
The amendment was carried with 40 votes in
favour, 21 against and no abstentions.
 
The motion as amended was carried with 40
votes in favour, 21 against and no abstentions.
 
The Children’s Society notes that transport
poverty exacerbates other inequalities, with children from
low-income families potentially missing out on school trips,
extracurricular activities, or suffering poor school attendance.
A and a 2025 report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies
similarly identified that young people’s mobility is
closely tied to long-term social and economic outcomes.
 
The
Council notes that it is working with bus companies to improve
services in Oxfordshire and thanks them for their support for its
schemes to make bus services more reliable, quicker and more
extensive.  It would welcome the opportunity to make services
more accessible to young people and others. 
 
This
Council notes that there are many transport disadvantaged groups
who could significantly benefit from targeted support with public
transport, such as those under 18, care leavers and asylum
seekers.
 
This Council, being aware of the levels of child
poverty in this county and the effect this has on the ability of
families and young people to travel by public transport, asks
the Cabinet to set up a Cabinet Advisory Group to consider a
scheme for the whole county to provide free or significantly
reduced bus travel for children and young people up to age of
18 where the money for such
scheme would require substantial funding to be viable and
longterm and that this will require
funding from central government in addition to Oxfordshire making a
contribution were a Workplace Parking Levy to be
introduced.
 
Such a scheme could be funded from fines from ANPR
enforcement and would enable children and young people to get
to school and college settings by enabling bus companies to develop
routes to school that better meet the travel needs of families and
children.
 
This Council
notes West of England Mayor Helen Goodwin has funded free travel
for children up to 16 this summer.