Connor Naismith MP has requested a meeting with representatives from Cheshire East Council, regarding the decision to scrap the funded bus for students travelling from Willaston to Malbank School & Sixth Form.

A survey led by Mr Naismith's office found that just 26 per cent of families are planning on paying for the Mikro bus.

The MP is also meeting with local bus providers to find a more appropriate and sustainable mode of transport for parents in the local area

Parents and teachers at Malbank School were told the funding for the Mikro bus from Willaston would be cancelled from September 2026, following the installation of a toucan crossing at the Peacock roundabout.

Families say they were not adequately consulted about the change and are now facing annual fees of over £900 for a place on the school bus, money which many parents do not have.

The existing public buses (operated by Stagecoach and D&G) follow a similar route at a lower cost of £340 a year, but services are already oversubscribed and the timings do not align with the school day.

Following correspondence with the school and families affected by the cuts, Connor Naismith MP launched a survey to evidence the fallout of this change to Cheshire East Council and to demonstrate the business case for a sustainable public transport route from Willaston to Malbank.

The survey generated over 120 responses from parents, students and residents in the surrounding area of the bus route.

97.3 per cent of parents and students confirmed that student safety was a barrier to walking to Malbank and only 12.3 per cent of respondents would walk, or let their child walk, to school following the removal of the funded bus.

There was obvious demand for the public bus offering to be expanded to accommodate students. 61.6% of respondents said that they would be willing to pay £340 a year for a public bus pass if capacity for school children could be guaranteed, but only 26% were willing to pay for the Mikro bus.

Regarding the impact on traffic in the local area, 67.1 per cent of respondents said that they will be driving their child to school (daily or in combination with other forms of transport) from September 2026.

31 residents who were neither parents nor students at Malbank also raised concerns about congestion due to increased traffic on the roads.

Many parents (58.3 per cent) said that the removal of the funded bus has, or would have, impacted their decision on the choice of school for their children and 97.3 per cent of respondents said they had not been fairly consulted about the change to bus services.

Connor Naismith MP said: "With the new school year underway, parents have been met with confusion and disruption over the transport options available to students living in Willaston. This is not the best start for children who are missing a reliable route to school.

"The wider implications of cancelling the funded bus are clear from this survey. More traffic on the roads, substantial costs for parents, changes to school choices, concerns around pedestrian safety.

"I will be putting this evidence to key stakeholders to ask what more can be done to ensure that students have an affordable and sustainable route to school."

Headteacher at Malbank School and Sixth Form, Mr John Harrison, said: "Good public policy measures success not simply by what it saves, but by what it costs.

"In pursuit of a comparatively small financial saving, this decision has generated widespread concerns about pupil safety, placed additional burdens on working families during a cost-of-living crisis, increased traffic congestion and environmental impact, and undermined confidence in long-term school choice.

"These outcomes were neither unexpected nor unforeseeable. They were highlighted as soon as news of this decision first landed, and it is deeply disappointing that so many of those warnings have now come to pass.

"The lack of meaningful consultation has also left many families feeling that their concerns were never properly heard, and in doing so, an opportunity to reach a more sensible and workable solution may have been lost."

Mr Naismith has arranged a meeting with Cheshire East Council for parents and Mr Harrison to discuss these findings and request the Ccuncil renegotiates better transport options for students in light of the wider impact of the cancelled funded bus.

A copy of the Survey Report has also been sent to the public bus operators to inform conversations around increasing capacity along the route to accommodate students at Malbank.

Parent of a student at Malbank School and Sixth Form, Sarah Jones, said: "The results of this survey really highlight just how much of an impact this change has and will continue to have on families, residents and ultimately local schools and communities.

"The lack of consultation and regard for real life consequences on real life people is clearly pertinent in these results, and this is unfortunately continuing even now with mixed messaging from CEC when responding to parents who are struggling to manage the new reality.

"We are seeing very real impacts day to day, which were very predictable and could've been mitigated by a proper consultation, or a more focused, tailored approach.

"Until CEC accept responsibility for how this has been managed, and support families in reaching an adequate long-term resolution, this discontent, concern for our children's safety, education and wellbeing, as well as financial worries are going to continue."

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