PARENTS are preparing for another fight to keep free bus transport for hundreds of youngsters in a rural area of the North-East.

About 350 pupils in north and south-west Durham could lose the right to a free ride to school, in a review by Durham County Council.

The authority designated several routes across the county as unsafe to walk to school, because of the levels of traffic on the roads.

But the list is up for review, starting with routes to four schools - Blackfyne Community School and Moorside Comprehensive, in Consett, Roseberry School, in Chester-le-Street, and Teesdale School, in Barnard Castle.

If the routes are deemed safe, the youngsters face either having to walk to school or pay on the buses. It will affect about 150 children in Leadgate, near Consett, who attend Blackfyne Community School and Moorside Comprehensive.

The council proposed to reclassify their route as safe last year, but the decision was called in by its scrutiny committee.

But the authority's cabinet has again given the go-ahead for officers to review the unsafe route status.

Elaine Fenwick, of Pont Bungalows, Leadgate, was one of those who campaigned to keep the route last time around.

She said: "I think it is dreadful. It is not a safe route.

"The cars fly along that road - it is really busy."

If the routes go, the council would save £52,500 in the 2004-05 financial year and £90,000 the following year.