PROTESTERS fighting to save 17 school bus services have been given a glimmer of hope after council bosses pledged to try and find a solution.

Leading councillors in Blackburn with Darwen revealed that the borough's 82 schools had more than £5million in savings and could use extra money they are receiving to retain the services.

They said that they would meet with school governors and bus companies in a bid to save at least some of the buses under threat.

Nearly 100 angry parents attended a meeting of the council's executive board to protest.

And opposition councillors deplored the move. Lib Dem leader Paul Browne said: "I deplore these cuts to what is a vital service. The Labour group should be ashamed." Conservative leader Colin Rigby added: "I think this decision should be revisited."

The services poised for the axe are ones the council is not obliged by law to provide, including those which take children under eight less than two miles to school and those over eight less than three miles to school.

The cuts are being proposed in a bid to ensure that the council can meet new targets set the Government for the amount of its education budget it hands over to schools. Habib Adam, of Blackburn Street, Blackburn, spoke at the meeting on behalf of parents.

He said: "When public transport is supposed to be promoted, the council is cutting services. No provisions have been made to make roads safer for those who have to walk. Surely more children walking to school increases the chances of youngsters being abducted."

Currently, 87 per cent of the education authority's budget is handed straight to schools, which equates to £66.9million. When the council first became a unitary authority -- and took over education from Lancashire County Council -- that was just 55 per cent, or £43.2million.

Next year, that will rise to more than 90 per cent, leaving schools with more cash to spend as they choose but leaving the council with no choice but to make cuts, said Coun Mahfooz Hussain, executive member for education.

He said: "More and more money is going to schools, so they can rightly choose how to spend their money, and we have to set priorities. Would people prefer it if we cut under-fives provision, adult education, special needs or the pupil referral unit?"

Council leader Bill Taylor said: "We have raised concerns with Government before about the amount of money going straight to schools but it is what they want and there is nothing we can do."

Coun Taylor said an emergency meeting of the council's leadership had been assembled to see if anything could be done to solve the problem.

Local education authority governors at the affected schools will now be contacted to see if they are aware of the problems, while the council will also contact bus companies to see if any of the services are financially viable.

Coun Sue Reid, in charge of social services, said: "If people want the buses, they should speak to their schools. They have more than £5million in their reserves, this authority as a whole has £4million.

"These aren't pleasant decisions but we are doing what central government has told us to."

No-one from the affected schools was available for comment, due to the summer holidays.