BUS services to three Swindon schools could be a step nearer to being saved at a meeting on Tues-day.

Parents feared that the services to Warneford School in High-worth, Ridgeway School in Wroughton and St Catherine's Primary School in Upper Strat-ton would be cut.

But after a task group was set up by the council to look into the services, it looks as though all three could be saved.

Swindon Council is in the middle of striking a £13,000 deal with Stagecoach for the number 81 bus from North Swindon to High-worth to continue on a commercial basis.

Talks are also going on to address the issue of non-entitled children travelling from North Swindon to St Catherine's as a Safer Routes to School project.

Finally, council officers are holding talks with Thamesdown Transport to accommodate non-entitled schoolchildren in Fresh-brook travelling to Ridgeway School to replace the route 18 service with diverted services from routes 10 and 11.

The council had planned to cancel the bus services as an economy measure but, after an outcry from parents, a task group of ten councillors was set up by the council's scrutiny commission to look into alternatives.

The pupils affected by the cuts were children who were not entitled to bus tokens as they lived outside the catchment areas of the schools.

The options delivered by the task group will now be discussed by the borough's cabinet at a meeting on Tuesday night.

The final decision will be made two weeks afterwards at a ratification committee meeting.

Stephen Taylor, the borough's solicitor, said: "The withdrawal by the bus operators of the services considered by the task group could result in significant numbers of children being unable to use public transport to attend their school of choice.

"Some children would have to find alternative ways of getting to school.

"Some former bus passengers may transfer to private cars, thereby increasing congestion and pollution."