PARISH councillors representing moorland villages will fight plans to withdraw places on trains for schoolchildren.

Danby Group Parish Council is angry about proposals by North Yorkshire County Council to take up to 50 children from outlying villages off trains to school in Whitby.

The county education department has introduced a policy that says every pupil who attends school in Whitby must be assured of a seat, whether by bus or train.

As Arriva is cutting the capacity of its daily trains to Whitby after Easter, more children will be forced to take a bus to school. Parents are being asked by the county council to complete a form stating their preferred mode of transport.

Coun Rita Rudsdale reported on a public meeting held on Monday of last week to discuss the plans. She said: "The feeling among the 30 or so people at the meeting was that they would prefer their children to be on the train."

She said parents were concerned that travelling by bus on the busy A171 road was far more dangerous than the train.

"The volume of traffic on that road from Easter onwards is horrendous," she said. "There is a 100 per cent more chance of an accident on the A171 than on the railway line."

She added that having two forms of transport would split the community and isolate those on the bus.

This was countered by Coun David Hodgson, who said: "I don't accept the argument that they are going to be isolated. I would prefer to see all the children on the train, because it is safer, but to say they will be isolated is ridiculous."

The chairman of the parish council, Coun Herbert Tindall, said the fight to keep all the children on the train was not over.

He said: "I'm very disappointed, but we are not leaving it at that and we are formulating a plan of attack."

His suggestion to write "in the strongest possible terms" to council officers and county councillors involved was agreed unanimously.