PARENTS face having to pay £600 a year for pupils to use school buses, a councillor has warned.

Essex County Council has decided the new intake of year 7 pupils will have to pay for its buses to take them to the Colne School, Brightlingsea, from September.

Now Julie Young, county councillor for Wivenhoe St Andrew ward, said she had learned the cost of the bus service would be £220 a term, per pupil.

The bus service commissioned by Essex County Council is run by New Horizon.

Pupils already at the school will be allowed to continue to use the buses for free.

Mrs Young said: "Essex County Council intimated New Horizon would be willing to provide capacity for students that are funded and offer capacity to students who wish to have the same service, in effect from September.

"However, I have spoken to New Horizon who state the contract with the council is purely to provide capacity for entitled children but if they have spare space on buses they will sell them to parents, at a charge of £220 per term which is £3.38 a day."

Meanwhile Colchester’s Hedingham Buses, has also stepped in to offer discounted rates to year sevens, for around £2 a day.

But Mrs Young said this meant year sevens using that service could be catching separate buses to their elder siblings at the school using buses by New Horizon.

The Hedingham buses will not drive onto the school site so students will have to make their own way to the premises.

The New Horizon buses will drive onto the school site.

Mrs Young added: "If 124 children want to travel and New Horizon have two full double deckers carrying 120 funded children with four children wishing to buy a place, they will not put on an additional bus.

"There may or may not be capacity provided by New Horizon. It is not an ideal situation and I think it could have been handled so much better.

"From this September parents are going to fund three terms of £200 to access that service and there is no guarantee there would be a place for their children."

Sally Anderson-Wai, of Wivenhoe, has a son due to start at the Colne in September.

He currently attends Elmstead Primary School and already has two siblings at the Colne in Brightlingsea.

Mrs Anderson-Wai said: "Last week we had a letter from the school to say it was going to cost us £220 term which is a lot for some families.

"My friend has got twins, it is going to cost her nearly £1,300 a year."

Ray Gooding, the county council’s cabinet member for Education and Lifelong Learning, said: “The council has secured a contract for those pupils from whom it is required to provide transport. The position is that parents can approach the bus company directly to potentially purchase any spare seats available – that is a matter to be agreed between parents and the contractor.

“Whilst understanding parents’ concern, the council does not accept the assertions made and remains satisfied it has acted lawfully, reasonably and proportionately in this matter.”