Chelmsford's County Hall is expected to be besieged tomorrow by opponents of the plan to end free transport to denominational, which in Essex are mainly Roman Catholic, schools.
A special meeting of the full county council is due to decide if parents will have to pay £100 per pupil a term, with concessions for low income and large families, from September 2004.
The council claims the move is necessary as part of its aim to prevent next year's council tax increase rivalling this year's 16.7 per cent, which it says is due to the government's policy of switching local government grant to the midlands and the north.
In a late move last weekend, the Conservative-controlled authority said that existing pupils - around 1,900 - would, under the scheme, continue to receive free transport until they are 16.
Cllr Iris Pummell, county cabinet member for schools, said "We have listened long and hard over recent months to the views of the church authorities, schools, parents, and the students themselves.
"The biggest concern expressed to us was over the introduction of charges for existing pupils, and our proposal means that these pupils will continue to receive free transport. We do, though, need to take action to address our current budgetary difficulties, and this is one of a number of difficult decisions that we have to make."
The original proposal was to bring in the charges from January, but councillors last week agreed to urge Cllr Pummell to delay them until September.
The issue was the subject of an adjournment debate initiated by Braintree's Labour MP, Alan Hurst, in the House of Commons last week.
Mr Hurst said the plan amounted to discrimination against the Catholic community.
West Chelmsford Conservative MP, Simon Burns, took part in the debate. He said later, "There is considerable concern, especially amongst parents whose children attend St John Payne School about these proposals."
Cllr Paul Sztumpf, leader of the Labour group on Essex County Council, criticised the timing of the release, on Friday, of news of the proposal to exempt existing pupils from the proposed charge.
Published Thursday November 20, 2003
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