Children could get marching orders.

Byline: By Graeme Whifield

Up to 400 children could be forced to walk to school along routes that were previously judged dangerous under a council review.

Northumberland County Council is examining a number of paths near its schools to see if it should withdraw free school transport along what used to be routes deemed too unsafe to walk.

Around 400 pupils currently get free school transport, even though they live within what is defined as walking distance to their school, because the path they would take was deemed to dangerous for children.

But now the county is re-examining all of those paths, and has started to withdraw free school transport where it decides that routes to school previously deemed dangerous are now safe.

The council withdrew free transport from Lynemouth and Throckley last September and is currently consulting over routes in Allendale, Catton and Whitfield as part of its review of the Haydon Bridge High School pyramid.

South Tynedale county councillor Bill Purdue said: "If the county council had said this was a cost-cutting exercise, people would have objected but at least understood.

"What seems to be dishonest is to say that a road classified as too dangerous for children to walk along 10 years ago is now safe, when everybody knows that traffic has got a lot worse.

"A lot of people in Allendale are very worked up about this and they're waiting to see what the county council does. I think the council has got to come up with a compromise because we're going to see buses going past people's houses half empty, parents will drive their children to school and that will only increase the traffic near schools."

Transport officials at the council say they have to carry out a periodic review of "safe walking routes to school" so that they are not paying for any unnecessary trips. Previously dangerous routes can be changed to a safe rating if the pavement or street lighting has been improved, or if more housing is built. A county council spokesman said: "This list of all the unsafe routes to school routes in Northumberland affects around 400 children. Our auditors insist we regularly review the list to ensure we are not subsidising safe routes to school. We expect this current review to be completed by the end of the year. If any of these routes have had significant improvements, or were assessed before nationally recognized criteria was adopted, we will consult widely with parents before any decisions are taken to designate them as a Safe Route to School. In the event, pupils would still be able to receive transport for a small sum."

Areas affected are Ovingham, Corbridge, Blyth and Ponteland.