Student transport victory for the Liberal Democrats

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 5th Mar 2008

Following a Liberal Democrat campaign, the Labour County Council have agreed to review the cost of the transport charges for students aged over 16. Labour increased the charge to £360 a year and were condemned by Lib Dems who called it "a tax on education" and demanded the "charges to be reduced to something much more reasonable".

Councillor Derek Kennedy said "Supporting the education of our children is one of the key priorities of the Lib Dems. We recognise students in rural areas are disadvantaged but Labour just hiked the costs up and passed them on to the students." Now after considerable pressure the charges are to be reviewed and are likely to be reduced to £200 a year. The Lib Dems feel any charge is prohibitive and point to the examples of Durham.