FAMILIES campaigning to save rural bus services which transport their children to school are holding a second public meeting tomorrow night (Friday) at The Rock Inn at Yelverton.

Parents, councillors and school staff are being asked to join in the fight to keep the buses travelling to and from Meavy, Walkhampton and Buckland Primary Schools which are due to be axed after Easter.

Bus subsidies for services across the county are being withdrawn by Devon County Council in order to save £1.35-million over the next year.

Parents in the Yelverton area say the end of the primary school transport system will have a major impact on the community. They fear the withdrawal of the 55 and 56 service will cause congestion on the roads and in the villages with many more cars having to do the school run or force children to have to walk on dangerous narrow country lanes.

Some 166 people have already signed the petition in less than a week and further action is being planned at the public meeting which starts at 6pm.

The county council says it will continue to provide school transport for children who are eligible — ie live beyond two miles from their designated primary school but says it is under no obligation to provide services for other children.

Susanne Martin, who has one child at Meavy and one child at Buckland, said parents were willing to pay more in transport fees to keep the bus running.

'This morning the bus from Yelverton, which has no primary school, was packed at 8.30am with school children,' she said.

'The next bus, at 8.50am, was empty but that is one that will be staying. Why can't they run a normal bus service at a time which fits in with school?

'A daily school service also means that a lot of us can go to work during normal office hours.'

County councillor for the Yelverton area Philip Sanders said the county council had been providing subsidies over and above what it was obliged by law to do, and it could not do it anymore — cuts had to be made somewhere.

'I sympathise with everyone over this but as a country we have probably been over-providing and now there is just not the money there to do it.

'We have to protect services for the elderly and the vulnerable and whilst I do understand the problem parents have, some of them have chosen not to send their children to their designated school and still expect transport to be provided.'

He added that through discussions between council officers, councillors and bus companies, some services earmarked for the axe were being retained, including the 118 service through Lydford and Mary Tavy to Tavistock connecting with services to Plymouth.

He said if discussions could be opened up with Beacon Buses, who run the 55 and 56 services, maybe some changes could be made to the timetable.