PARENTS may have to pay an extra £50 a week following the emergency closure of a nursery because of the risk of subsidence.

The children will be bussed to a new site and unless parents who require half-day care can collect them at lunchtime, they will have to pay for the full day.

The children were preparing to go to the nursery at Bolton Parish Church School.

But all pupils are being temporarily moved to Longsight Primary School in Harwood, because river bank subsidence has left the Parish Church school playground in danger of falling into the River Tonge.

This has led to fears that the buildings themselves could collapse.

Bolton Council has made arrangements for free buses for pupils to and from the temporary school.

But parents of nursery school children are angry that they will be expected to collect their children at lunchtime, or pay to keep them there for the extra half-day, at £10 a day.

Currently, toddlers attend nursery free for up to a half a day. But when the school and nursery are relocated to Harwood only the full-time pupils will be bussed back to the old school site to be collected by their parents.

If nursery school parents are unable to collect their children from Harwood the children can stay on but parents would be charged an extra £10 a day or £50 for a full week.

A number of parents claim they are unable to travel to Longsight School, in Hough Fold Way, Harwood, and cannot afford to pay the £50 a week for the extra half days.

Julie Boardman, aged 38, of Hilden Street, Bolton, who has a three-year-old son, Daniel, said: "I am on permanent sickness benefit and I suffer from panic attacks. I simply cannot get up to Longsight school."

Arrangements are being put in place to bus youngsters to and from the Bolton Parish site to Longsight at the start and end of the school day - but not mid-way through the day.

Parent David Proctor said the arrangements were unviable. Mr Proctor, of Stansfield Close, Bolton, who has a three-year-old daughter, Gemma, at the nursery, said: "I used to be a driver but I suffered spinal injuries in a car accident a few years ago and I am now medically unfit to catch a bus. I don't have transport and my wife has a one-year-old baby to look after."

Classes begin at Longsight at the end of next week.

Education bosses are waiting for surveys to be carried out to determine how much work needs to be carried out at the school but have not ruled out demolition.

Assistant director of education Chris Swift said parents would have to pay the £50 if their children were in full-time nursery at the Bolton Parish site.

A Bolton Council spokesman said: "It is among a number of issues we are urgently addressing. We will keep parents informed."

Bolton Parish School has never provided full-time nursery care.

He said if youngsters were receiving full-time nursery care at the Bolton Parish School site, they would be charged £50 to pay for additional staffing costs.

A Bolton Council spokesman said: "It is among a number of issues we are currently urgently addressing. We will keep parents informed of the situation."