Free cycling courses that help prevent hundreds of accidents a year could be scrapped under proposals to save cash.

West Sussex County Council said it may withdraw its free week-long cycling proficiency training courses as part of a series of cuts to services.

Road safety campaigners reacted with dismay to the news and predicted an increase in serious accidents.

A spokesman for Cycling England said: "Anything that damages attempts to train children to cycle and make them safer on the roads is un-acceptable."

The council, struggling to bridge a multimillion-pound shortfall in funding, plans to introduce a £15 charge for the tests for all Year 5 and Year 6 pupils, possibly in September.

A child dies every 31 minutes while walking or cycling on British roads and experts have told The Argus they believe the charging will result in a higher mortality rate.

Worthing borough councillor Bob Smytherman said: "We will have more accidents and less interest in cycling if people are being charged £15 a time.

"Some parents won't want to pay £15 for training and that means children are going to be put at risk.

"It is completely unacceptable that charges are planned and I'm doing all I can to prevent it happening."

Cycling England said no child should leave primary school without receiving cycle training.

Bricycles, the Brighton-based cycling lobby group, said interest in cycling would diminish if the charges started. Becky Reynolds, from the group said: "Barriers to cycling shouldn't be introduced - there are enough barriers already."

West Sussex County Council pays about £100,000 a year to run its own cycling proficiency training courses.

Cycling England is piloting a Government-funded Bikeability scheme going nationwide in March, designed to replace cycling proficiency tests.

It expects up to 300,000 children a year to take part in the training, described as the "cycling proficiency test for the 21st Century".

Signing up to Bikeability could be one way for the council to avoid the new charges, which were due to start in April before they were delayed amid protests.

The authority has confirmed the charges will not start until at least September after receiving objections from parents, including an online petition started by Coun Smytherman and signed by at least three headteachers.

West Sussex county councillor Tex Pemberton said: "I have listened very carefully to representations from members of the public, schools and other groups and as a result will not now be introducing the £15 charge for the week-long training at this stage.

"However, it is a service that does cost more than £100,000 a year to provide at a time when budgets are under severe pressure.

"Delaying the introduction of the charge will allow more time to discuss a way forward with schools and examine various options.

"The introduction of a charge is one taken with reluctance but it is not without precedent in many other local authorities."

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said it sympathised with parents and children who would struggle to pay for the cycling proficiency tests but said its main concern was the tests and training continued.

Spokesman Roger Vincent said: "It's got to be the decision of local authorities as to whether they charge or not and they must look at their own finances to make that decision.

"If they don't start charging, we might have a situation where no cycling proficiency tests take place at all.

"It might be unfortunate, especially for some parents who can't afford it, but the most important thing is that cycling proficiency training continues - £15 is a relatively small investment in a child's safety."