MORE than 40 children have been left without transport to school after a council axed a bus service.

Children living at Bassingbourn Barracks must now walk almost two miles to Bassingbourn Community Primary School, worried mother Donna Goddard told the Crow after Cambridgeshire County Council decided to cut the route from its bus service provision.

“They have done it for years, so I don’t know why they are changing it now,” she said.

“Most of the wives here don’t drive.

“I have got three children – one in Year Three, one in Year Four and a two-and-a-half-year-old.

“I have to take the youngest with me, which means he walks about eight miles a day.”

Mrs Goddard said a number of women at the barracks are in a similar situation, with children under school age, and about 40 children at the barracks used to use the bus.

She suggested the decision to axe the bus service was a cost-cutting measure by the council.

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire County Council said the service taking children from the barracks to the school was reviewed as part of an ongoing review of school bus routes across the county.

“The route has been surveyed and a full risk assessment carried out and it meets the legal definition of a safe walking route to school,” he explained.

“The parents of youngsters who used the bus provision were notified of our intention during the last school year and given their right of appeal.

“Their challenge to the decision was turned down by the Appeals Committee in May.

“For a small number of pupils - those living in Cardiff Place - transport will continue, as crossing of the A1198 does not meet the criteria as an available walking route to school.”