DORSET County Council will be looking to avoid mistakes of the past when school bus contracts come up for renewal next year.

The authority has drawn up a new model for its passenger transport services as it looks to go out to tender on the majority of services for the start of the school year in 2017.

When the contracts were renewed in 2011 the council was forced to launch an investigation when students and parents reported buses turning up late or in some cases not at all.

The council says it has been planning ahead for the change over this time round and has been looking at new ways it can ensure the most efficient service to run alongside its public transport system.

Head of economy Matthew Piles gave a presentation to the cabinet on proposals that will see bus companies take more responsibility for scheduling and planning routes and will aim to make full use of the resources available.

He said the council currently is responsible for transporting more than 6,000 mainstream school children every day as well as around 1,000 special educational needs passengers.

The proposed new model, which has been developed following a public consultation that attracted 2,600 responses, will use a 'one school, one operator model' where a single operator is responsible for all transport to a single school, with the ability to subcontract part of the operation.

Mr Piles said: "This is a different way of thinking."

He added that a clear timetable had been put in place to give operators sufficient time to prepare for the new contracts and avoid the mistakes of the past and added that the authority would be looking to conduct a positive media campaign ahead of the new school year.

The new model will also aim to support the public bus network by opening up to non-schools passengers where possible and appropriate and the council will also look to further develop community transport links to improve rural accessibility.

Council leader Cllr Robert Gould said: "I think the new approach is certainly going to rely on a better relationship with our bus companies.

"I think we can work in partnership."

Cabinet member for environment, infrastructure and highways Cllr Peter Finney said the new model should also deliver savings for the council, with the cost for mainstream school transport alone currently £5.3million a year.

However, with the tendering process still to take place, the council was unable to say exactly how much would be saved.