A parent campaigning for the reintroduction of hot school dinners in West Sussex has rubbished plans to deliver aeroplane-style meals to schools.

Richard Symonds, from Ifield, Crawley, said West Sussex County Council's proposal to prepare hot meals in one location and transport them to schools where they would then be heated up will struggle to meet nutritional standards and will not be cost effective.

He said: "I am pleased they are looking at bringing back school dinners but this is the most ludicrous comment I've heard so far.

"To deliver all these dinners to hundreds of schools every day would be an interesting logistical exercise to say the least. It's common sense that when you reheat food, you lose more of the nutritional content and let's remember the meals have to appeal to children - microwaved mashed potato and vegetables will never taste as good as freshly cooked. The idea is far from adequate."

Mr Symonds, who lives with his wife Elaine and their sons Peter, 15, and David, 13, has been campaigning for the reintroduction of hot school meals since the county council axed them six years ago to save £500,000 a year.

He said: "With the best will and the best parenting in the world, children will not always get a nutritional meal at home in the evening. If both parents work full time and are tired when they get home, they don't feel like cooking. If the children are well fed during the day it is a weight off parents' minds."

He said supervised sit-down meals were important for children to learn about food and interact socially and that hot meals and drinks were especially important in winter.

He called for a public apology from the council for axing the meals service in the first place and said the councillors responsible for the decision should resign.

He said the only suitable solution was to reinstate kitchens in schools so fresh food could be prepared on site. Many have been converted into classrooms or IT suites since hot meals were stopped.

He said: "It would be expensive but for six years the council has not put the children first. That has to change."

Hot meals were replaced in 1999 by lunchboxes provided as free school meals by caterer Sodexho. The county's existing contracts with the company expire on July 31, 2006 and councillors will be asked to find a replacement school meal service.

Up to 18 secondary schools and 249 primary schools would be covered by the new contract(s). A report to councillors said new contracts needed to consider Government guidance about the reintroduction of hot meals by 2008.

Steven Waight, a member of the county council's Cabinet, said the council was looking at the possibility of delivering pre-prepared meals to schools to be heated up. This would require extra Government funding.

A briefing document from the Department for Education and Skills said: "We believe it is important for every school to be offering its pupils a hot and nutritious lunch every day. While there are only a few local authorities that do not offer this service, we want them all to be doing so.

"As now, it will be for individual schools and local authorities to determine how best to provide a hot meals service for their pupils according to their own local circumstances."