A LOCAL college has joined the fight to save bus passes for students in further education.

Runshaw, Chorley's nearest college, taking hundreds of school leavers every year, fears many students may be left high and dry if plans to axe bus passes are given the go-ahead by Lancashire County Council.

Currently, students have to find £90 of their annual bus fares to receive a pass, with families on benefits gaining the passes for free.

Under the proposals, drawn up by the county council, existing students will have to find £100 for a pass, with new students receiving no help at all.

That would leave Chorley students paying more than £2.50 a day to catch a bus to Leyland, with residents of Clayton-le-Woods having to find nearer £3.00.

Jim Smith, spokesman for the college, based on Langdale Road, Leyland, said students would be kept informed.

He said: "Our Principal, Bernard O'Connell, has written to the county council expressing his concern at the proposals, which would also abolish lunch vouchers and other student support.

"It would be a great shame if potential students were prevented from entering into further education because it was too costly.

"Hopefully, sufficient safety guards will be put in place to stop that happening."

Ironically, if the cut backs, due to be decided at a meeting of the education sub-committee on March 14, were sanctioned, the very students Runshaw was designed to cater for when it opened would struggle to get to college.

When Runshaw first opened in the 1970s, its mission statement was to provide further education for the area's two grammar schools, Parklands in Chorley and Balshaws in Leyland.

Rough estimates from local High Schools suggest 70 per cent of school leavers who go into further education go to Runshaw, which achieved the best A-level results in Lancashire.

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