PRIMARY schools in and around Huntingdonshire have qualified for up to �1,000 of Government cash for helping to save the environment from car-obsessed parents. To qualify for a grant of �1,000 for up to three years, schools had to have a reasonable expect

PRIMARY schools in and around Huntingdonshire have qualified for up to �1,000 of Government cash for helping to save the environment from car-obsessed parents.

To qualify for a grant of �1,000 for up to three years, schools had to have a reasonable expectation of being able to set up a "walking bus" and save an extra five return car trip a day on average.

Schools that preferred to set up alternative school-based walking initiatives were required to have a reasonable expectation of being able to save an extra two-and-a-half car trips a day on average, in order to qualify for a grant of �500.

"Walking buses" are convoys of pupils accompanied by staff or volunteers, which follow a set route to school, and are among a range of measures introduced by head teachers in recent years to curb the number of cars on the school run.

Now those schools whose schemes have seen a sufficient drop in the number of car journeys to and from the school gates are set to benefit from an extension to their funding.

Walking bus schemes are in place at Houghton Primary School, St John's C E Primary School, in Huntingdon, Brampton Primary School, Hemingford Grey Primary School, Ashbeach Primary, in Ramsey St Mary's, Huntingdon Infant School, Priory Junior School, St Neots, Sawtry Infant School, Monkfield Park Primary School, in Cambourne, and St Anne's CE Primary School in Godmanchester.