Safety fear for children over plans to axe school bus

Parents in a Cambridgeshire village say they are angry at plans to stop the free bus service which takes their children to school.

The County Council says it has spent tens of thousands of pounds improving the three-mile route from Milton to Impington. However parents claim it will be unsafe for children to walk or cycle the route.

Parent Jenny Payne said: "It's a 60 mph road, there's no lighting on it. The pavement in places is probably under half a metre wide. 180 children, which is what we think it is, come from Milton to Impington every day. That road cannot sustain that safely.

Parent Moira Hassett said: "It is the fact that it's not a safe route. It's very exposed, there are no houses. It's a rural route - it's not a suburban route where there are houses, cycle paths."

Parents say their main concern is that sections of the three-mile journey go along a busy road, which in darkness, or bad weather would become especially dangerous.

Cambridgeshire County Council said: "More than £30,000 has been spent improving part of the route to enable children to walk to school as part of our continuing programme to encourage students to walk and cycle."

There's a parish council meeting this evening to decide the community's response to the plans. Parents have until the 18th of May to appeal, and are rallying the troops to do so.

Click below to watch Olivia Paterson's report