Families are set to find out next month if they will lose school bus seats for their teenagers for good as Staffordshire County Council considers the future of a transport scheme.

One community leader has branded the situation "an unmitigated disaster" after affected families were left waiting for an answer on the Temporary Vacant Seat Scheme (VSS).

Some parents have resorted to driving their children several miles to sixth form, following a school bus with empty seats on they were previously able to board. And campaigners are concerned for the safety of teenagers having to walk or cycle down unlit country lanes.

Young people in rural areas not served by public transport are facing lengthy walks to get to school – or forking out for taxis – after Staffordshire County Council announced it was not planning to bring back the Temporary Vacant Seat Scheme (VSS). This allowed families not eligible for free school transport to pay for spare seats on council services but it was suspended during the coronavirus pandemic.

The county council says it has always warned parents they cannot rely on the scheme as it depends on demand from families entitled to free travel. The authority added that it has been burdened by new Government guidance and a lack of suitable vehicles.

A survey on the future of the scheme closed last month, but Staffordshire County Council has yet to announce its decision.

On Tuesday Councillor Jeremy Pert, who represents the Eccleshall area, asked when families would be told the result.

Speaking at a scrutiny committee meeting he said: "If I look at what's at the top of my post bag it's normally potholes, flooding or highways matters, yet for weeks and months it's been the Temporary Vacant Seat Scheme.

"For many members who are in town areas the scheme, getting those children aged 16 and over to school and further education, is probably not an issue and doesn't even hit the radar. But for a rural member it disproportionately hits us because of the sheer volume of children who are affected in not being able to get a seat to school.

"This is compounded when they see buses going by with empty seats on them, going from where they are starting all the way to the school they are trying to get to. I think this has been an unmitigated disaster because it's been going on so long.

"I wonder whether the leader would be able to give us an indication of hard and fast dates, given the consultation on this finished at least a month ago, as to when we can go back to our residents with the picture as to what the council is going to do to help those parents who have been badly affected by it.

"I appreciate there is no win or easy answer to this. I would appreciate if we could put in an appeals process so those who are most disadvantaged can put their case clearly and that could be heard fairly with a view of trying to find a way to ensure that they're not disadvantaged or disenfranchised from further education."

The meeting was told a decision was due to be made at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, December 15.

Council leader Alan White responded: "I appreciate that Councillor Pert's division in particular has been hard hit by the Temporary Vacant Seat Scheme survey, and indeed there have been parents in touch with the authority from your division with those issues. A decision is due imminently – this side of Christmas – so it will give parents some certainty.

"It wasn't a consultation, it was a survey; there is a subtle difference. The survey has shown some interesting facts relating to those people who are affected by this.

"First and foremost is a good number of those people affected by the Temporary Vacant Seat Scheme are not far away from a commercial bus route in any event. I don't know the details in your division, but certainly the survey has indicated that is the case.

"There is a case for encouraging children who are not able to get onto the buses anymore to use the commercial buses in order to support those in getting to their place of education. There are some issues that have been highlighted through the course of the survey that we do need to attend to, because there are some 'wicked' problems relating to this and we need to be looking at these in some detail.

"We as an authority are subjected to Government regulations on passenger vehicles and the implementation of the access rules around passenger vehicles. We have to make sure they are adhered to.

"We understand there are ways for children to get to school but there are going to be some hard issues for some families to deal with. We are looking at those in detail."

But Leek Rural Councillor Gill Heath said: "I hear what the leader is saying about using the public transport, but we haven't got public transport in the Moorlands, there is no public transport to be had.

"The bus the child has gone to school on until 16 suddenly goes past the lane end of the farm or house where they live, half empty, and their mum or dad, because they are three, four or five miles away, have to get the car out and follow the bus in.

"We had the meeting about climate change and we hear so much about unnecessary car journeys. Where does that fit in with your climate change policy? It's just a nonsense.

"We've got the school buses and they are not fully used. It doesn't take much working out that it is just a silly situation.

"I understand that Derbyshire County Council have dispensation from the rules – they still continue to collect their children. Have we every asked for dispensation?

Councillor White responded: "Derbyshire has more income than us, so they may have some spare cash floating around that enables them to do that.

"To your point about the climate change agenda, no it doesn't make sense that we have to put kids in cars in order to get them to school when there is a bus there."