A CASH-STRAPPED council is to continue free school travel for thousands of children.

Durham County Council was looking at saving more than £1m a year by bringing its more generous scheme into line with others around the country.

Durham gives free travel for children aged eight and over who live more than two miles from school even though the statutory requirement is three miles.

But the cabinet has decided to keep the scheme as it is - for the time being.

Council leader Ken Manton said around 20,000 children currently qualified for free school transport. About 4,000 of them get it because of the council's two-mile rule.

"To extend the boundary would mean putting extra financial burden on hundreds of families. It would also have resulted in many more parents engaging in the school run, taking their children to and from school by car, so adding to the number of vehicles on our roads and increasing the environmental impact of rush hour traffic.

"Spending on school transport in County Durham has risen from £6 million in 1997 to more than £10 million today - and at that time, unlike today, the figure included pupils in Darlington.

"There may come a time when we have to look again at the pressure on this area of our budget but, for the moment, we are not about to make any change.''

The council has also dropped proposals to charge pupils aged up to 16 who use surplus seats on free school transport even though they are not eligible. The council was looking to charge £1 a day for the concession - as most other councils do - but the number of youngsters who get it has fallen.

Consultation with schools, heads and governors revealed concern that poor parents would suffer under the charge.