SCHOOL bosses disputing a fee imposed by the council for a protest march organised by pupils are vowing action after the money was removed from their budget.

Governors and the headteacher of St George’s RC High School have been objecting to the £2,500 fee since January last year.

Council bosses told them they would have to pay the money to cover the costs of holding the march, which was organised by pupil campaign group justice4georges last February and attended by 1,000 people, against the council’s plans to shut the school under Building Schools for the Future proposals.

The school have been refusing to pay but now the council have now taken a reduced amount - £1,918.35 - from the school’s budget.

Phil Harte, headteacher of the school in Parsonage Drive, Walkden, said: "Last week, Salford City Council deducted this money from our accounts to pay for the march.

"Despite that, the school is still on budget, it is well run, popular and oversubscribed.

"They told us they were going to do it and we have argued that we should not be paying for it, we’ve argued for it to go to arbitration and we’re in dispute with them over this. They’ve just gone ahead and taken the money from our account. It’s not the end though, we’re going to protest about this and pursue it through other avenues.

"It shows the callousness of the council. I think it’s appalling that when you protest against the council you have to pay for the right to do that."

Pete Fisher, deputy headteacher, said: "We come back to the human rights issue here.

"Lord Mayor’s Parade, Whit Walks, Boy Scouts Parade on St George’s Day - no charge, teenagers exercising their democratic rights - £1918.35."

The council have argued that the fee was used to cover the cost of closing roads and they could not set a precedent of waiving it and passing the cost on to taxpayers.

Councillor Derek Antrobus has also compared the fee to a village hall charging for use for a public meeting.

Cllr Antrobus, lead member for highways and planning at Salford City Council, said: "The school requested the work, knew the price in advance and asked for the bill to be sent.

"We have followed the normal process for recovering money owed to the council."