PLANS to encourage the use of buses instead of cars for the school run could backfire in rural areas of Yorkshire, says the Country Land & Business Association (CLA).

The Government intends to bring forward a new draft School Transport Bill in a bid to reduce traffic problems around schools, and a pilot scheme with selected local education authorities will look at ways of achieving this.

The CLA's regional director, Dorothy Fairburn, said: "It is suggested that councils will have the power to charge families that can afford to pay for using school buses, but if this were applied to many families in rural parts of the region they would use their cars even more, because transport is currently provided free of charge unless they live within three miles of school, which most don't. We welcome any moves that reduce problems of large numbers of cars around schools, many of which have travelled less than a mile or so. But those who live further away would be unfairly disadvantaged. They are not the cause of the problem and they should not have to foot the bill. Unless greater understanding is shown of life in the countryside, we will continue to witness the erosion of services essential to maintaining a viable rural economy."

Updated: 08:54 Wednesday, December 03, 2003