COUNCIL chiefs have admitted more school bus cuts could be on the way across East Lancashire.

This comes despite outcry over the axeing of two routes in Accrington.

County Coun Tony Martin said Lancashire had to find £1.9million savings from the budget for subsidised buses before the next school year.

Staff at St Anne and St Joseph's RC School in Sandy Lane, Accrington, said that 60 pupils could be set to leave the school after two bus routes were scrapped and the remaining two were under threat.

But Coun Martin said these cuts could just be the start.

He said: "Oil prices are rising and that has really hit us. The bus contracts that are coming in at the moment are way over our budget of £5million and I will have to be coming back for more withdrawals in the future.

"The difficulty is that the bus industry inflation is more than I can deal with. I can't continue the way I am going because I just don't have the money."

St Anne and St Joseph's headteacher Elaine Richards said: "At the beginning of the school year we had four buses serving the school and come the summer that will be down to two. At the beginning of next year we could have none at all.

"As a Roman Catholic school we serve a wide community and these buses are vital."

The school's Fern Gore route has been axed and by Easter the Baxenden bus will have gone. The county council is now considering the future of the Huncoat and Laneside buses.

One parent at the school, mum-of-three Rebecca Briggs, 27, said: "My eldest child is four years old and I want her to go to a Catholic school."

The Huncoat resident added: "It is a very good school but without the bus I am going to have to rely on other people for lifts which is not an ideal situation.

"I understand that there are budgets the council has to stick to but this is going to cause a lot of problems.

"If the bus goes in the summer I will have no choice but think about whether I continue to send my children to the school."