PARENTS have launched a campaign to save subsidised transport to faith schools.

Up to 300 children from Bicester and surrounding villages travel to the Catholic secondary school Blessed George Napier in Banbury.

But earlier this month Oxfordshire County Council transport chiefs announced cost-cutting plans to stop subsidising transport to the school for new pupils.

St Gregory the Great in Oxford would also be affected.

Blessed George Napier parents have vowed to “strongly resist” the proposal.

They say scrapping the service affects parents’ right to choose a school based on belief, fails to promote diversity and choice for parents and could affect the long-term viability of the school.

At a meeting on Monday, parents pledged to bombard the council with objections.

In a statement, headteacher Catherine Weaver said: “As the only secondary school with a religious character in north Oxfordshire, we are dismayed to discover that our well-established transport arrangements are now under threat. We will strongly resist the county council’s proposed changes to end subsidised travel to schools of a religious character, a proposal which strikes at the heart of all we have worked so hard to achieve in the last 49 years.

“We would question the accuracy of the overall monetary savings for the county.”

Town and district councillor Nick Cotter, who has three children at the school and a fourth who would be affected by the changes, said: “It will not only affect current generations but future generations as well.”

Father-of-three Karl Jones, 38, of Thames Avenue, Bicester, said that by 2012 parents would have to pay £1,200 a year for school transport – a rise of £960 per child. The county council says it plans to phase out the service from September 2011, saving an estimated £640,000 by 2015.

Historically, it has always provided free transport to children in faith schools.

A spokesman for the council said: “Oxfordshire is one of the few remaining parts of the UK that pays for free home-to-school transport for faith schools. There is no legal obligation do to this.”

Children who already receive free transport will continue to do so until they leave school and students starting school this September will not be affected.

The consultation period has been extended to noon on April 26 and a decision will be made by the cabinet in May.

John Hussey, headteacher at St Gregory the Great Catholic School, in Cowley, said: “We are concerned about the impact the proposals will have on families.

“We are not convinced about the accuracy of the information that has been presented in the consultation document.

“Our governing body is working with the archdiocese and other schools on a response to the consultation which has not yet been finalised.”