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Haverhill parents who send their children to the Roman Catholic schools in Bury St Edmunds have launched a protest at Suffolk County Council axing the subsidised bus passes they use.

For a parent with three children affected it will mean a whopping rise in their annual school transport costs from £780 to £2,340.

There are now fears parents will withdraw their children from the catholic schools if the move goes ahead, with implications for both the schools and local schools in the town faced with taking a lot more pupils.

On Saturday the parents, who have formed a group Parents Against Public Transport Cuts (PAPTEC), met with Cllr Anne Gower, one of Haverhill's county councillors, at Haverhill Library, to discuss the impact of the council’s proposed transport cuts on the children, families and schools in the Catholic schools pyramid.

The proposed cuts include the withdrawal of the discretionary subsidised bus passes used by children travelling from Haverhill and surrounding areas to the Roman Catholic schools in Bury St Edmunds (St Louis Middle and St Benedict’s Upper).

This also includes the demise of the ‘third child free’ element. The cost to a family with three children is likely to increase from £780, to £2,340 a year with effect from September.

The Explorer Card used by some families has also been axed from April 1, after what the parents call a 'quietly publicised' consultation. The 945 bus route, currently run by Mulley’s, is up for tender after June 1 and costs from another contractor are likely to increase.

Parent of three Eleanor Davison of PAPTC said: "The proposed cuts and additional charges effectively put a stop to parental choice for those of a lower or lower-middle income.

"Those who send their children to the Roman Catholic schools in Bury usually have very strong religious reasons for doing so and many families will be unable to afford to send their children to their nearest faith school."

The cuts also affect children travelling to Bury St Edmunds from Sudbury and Newmarket. Currently some 500 students travel to the Catholic pyramid schools in Bury St Edmunds, around 130 of these from Haverhill and surrounding areas.

Particular concerns have been expressed for those students in the middle of their GCSE/A level courses.

Mrs Davison said: "There are also grave concerns about the change in the ethos of the Catholic schools should parents start to withdraw their children and, in the long-term, there would be concerns for the schools’ future."

The council's transport department is looking to make savings of £160,000 (around one per cent of its budget).

Under current arrangements, the county council has an obligation to provide free home-to-school transport for children aged between 11 and 16, whose parents have expressed a preference for a faith school and who live more than two miles, but no more than 15 miles from their school.

All concerned have been lobbying their MPs and county councillors and signing on-line petitions during the consultation period, which ends on Friday, March 25.

For more details visit the education section at www.suffolk.gov.uk.

To sign the on-line petition against this cut, visit: http://petitions.web-labs.co.uk/suffolkcc/public/Catholic-Schools-Bus-Service---misguided-saving