Schoolchildren no longer to get free London Zoo visits

Free trips to London Zoo for school pupils are being scrapped as part of a cost-cutting drive.

Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren have visited the zoo and the London Wetlands Centre under the scheme since it was launched in 2001.

However, Boris Johnson has agreed to stop the funding in a bid to save £600,000 a year.

Labour London Assembly member Joanne McCartney said: "The income of a child's parents or the type of school they go to shouldn't determine whether they can access fantastic educational facilities like these. The Mayor should know that thousands of children in London don't get any other opportunity to see or learn about wildlife."

The London Zoo and London Wetlands Centre programme will now close in March.

The scheme was designed to give pupils from the 2,583 state schools in London a free educational visit to the centres each academic year.

Last year almost 99,000 pupils visited London Zoo as part of the scheme.

A spokeswoman for Mr Johnson said: "With public finances under tremendous pressure, we have to constantly review all our spending commitments. London is fortunate to boast a wide range of wonderful cultural attractions and in these circumstances it is hard to single out a subsidy for this programme over other deserving candidates.

"These fantastic schemes have both benefited from a significant amount of public subsidy to date, which we believe creates a solid legacy to now attract funding from other sources."

A spokeswoman for the Zoological Society of London said: "This funding had been in place for nine years, and gave many thousands of children the opportunity to visit the zoo and engage with our wonderful learning programmes. We are immensely grateful to the GLA for their support during this time, and we are disappointed that this funding could not continue.

"Our commitment to both formal and informal learning remains an integral part of ZSL's mission and work, and the zoo will continue to operate a school visit programme that can be paid for by schools at a special rate."

The spokeswoman added: "ZSL is also seeking funds from outside sponsors to expand its education programme giving more school children the opportunity to be inspired by endangered wildlife and conservation."