FOR many Kennington residents, the impact of the policy would be huge, especially for those who want to send their children to Matthew Arnold School in Cumnor Hill.

The village is in the school’s catchment area and the two have strong links, even though Matthew Arnold is Kennington’s sixth-nearest school, according to council calculcations.

The other schools considered are: Oxford Academy in Littlemore is the closest, plus Oxford Spires Academy, Cheney, and Fitzharrys and John Mason in Abingdon.

For Lorna Hind, a 44-year-old registrar with 10-year-old twins Isabella and Martha currently attending St Swithun’s, the policy could mean having to spend more than £1,000 a year.

Mrs Hind said: “We want them to go to Matthew Arnold, because it’s our catchment school, it’s the partner school for St Swithun’s and it’s the school they have always thought they would go to.

“At the moment, the buses are free, but under the new policy we would have to pay, and with twins, that doubles what we would have to pay.

“I think there are a lot of families who maybe earn a little too much to qualify for things like tax credits and free school meals. It’s not something they can easily afford.

“We’re not a low income family, but we’re not a high income family either and we would struggle.

“We don’t want to have to separate them from their friends and from the school they want to go to.”

Kennington’s nearest school, according to the county council, is Oxford Academy in Littlemore, which the council claims is within “walking distance”, because it is less than three miles away.

Under the proposals, free transport may also be withdrawn if the council decides children can walk to their nearest school.

However, at the meeting last week, council officer Roy Leach admitted no assessment of the walking route – which includes a towpath which regularly floods – had been carried out.

At the meeting, Kennington’s county councillor Bob Johnston said: “I don’t think this route will be possible for the reason that it goes along the towpath.

“I suspect the possible outcome if the cabinet is daft enough to go ahead with this is that free transport will be offered to Oxford Academy.”