AS BRADFORD Council’s plans to slash £32 million from its budget by 2020 start to roll into action, there will be many who bemoan the resulting cutbacks in services which are of particular importance to them.

Hugely difficult decisions, of course, have had to be made but careful judgement also needs to be exercised to ensure that the benefits of those cash-savings are not disproportionately outweighed by the consequences.

And a prime example of that could be the cost-cutting going on behind the scenes for two schemes for schools.

The programme to help equip young children with vital road awareness skills, including cycle training, is set to lose £62,500 annually in 2018-19 and 2019-20.

And the Council’s Active Schools Travel Programme, which encourages children to walk or cycle to and from school to help encourage them to be more active, faces losing £28,000 in each of those years.

Both schemes have proved notably successful.

Bradford has had the largest percentage fall in numbers of children killed or injured in road accidents out of the five West Yorkshire authorities.

And thousands more pupils are opting to walk or ride to school helping to combat a local and national problem of childhood obesity.

Now, a report warns that both schemes face being scaled back to solely concentrate on areas of greatest need if alternative sources of funding cannot be found.

If that happens, the long-term pain could easily outstrip the short-term gain.