TB - does the CC pay for the daily buses?
The RC secondary school in my area is in a village, while the local city does not have one, so it ended up with most of the kids living over 4 miles from the school. To Its credit its fully subscribed because they get good results, so quite a few non RC parents send their kids there.
The worst situation we had was a David Cameron Free School (secondary) ended up with 52 pupils designed for at least 200. It had millions spent on - own purpose built Fitness studio and Floristry shop both run as businesses to help pupils develop vocational skills. In its Ofsted inspection it got worst possible grade in every category. My guess it was costing around £40,000 per pupil per year. All public funded. It was not special needs. Closed after 6 years, now not a school.