PARENTS protesting against the proposed closure of a primary school will tomorrow decide whether to picket a council meeting.

Durham County Council will meet on Thursday when it is expected to agree to close Hamsteels Primary School, in Esh Winning, at the end of the school year, in August.

It is one of two underused schools in the village and officials say it needs £207,000-worth of repairs.

The council has proposed closing the school and moving the 61 pupils to Esh Winning Primary School, a mile away.

Parents say it would rip the heart out of their close-knit community and it would be dangerous for children to travel so far to get to school. They have started a campaign to demonstrate how important the school is to them and are raising money to go towards the cost of repairs.

Dawn Gardner, of Western Avenue, said: "The reaction to the proposal has been very strong among the parents and we do not want to see the school close, as our children are very happy here.

"It is downright dangerous to suggest getting them to walk across three busy roads to move to another school.

"We will be discussing whether to demonstrate outside the meeting this week, and I hope we do, because it is important we show the members how much this school means to us."

The council has been carrying out a consultation to assess the depth of feeling on the matter.

It has received two letters of support for the closure and 55 letters of objection.

Councillors will consider three options at their meeting.

They can either agree to issue a statutory public notice proposing the closure of the school from August next year, agree to maintain the school or ask their officers to carry out more consultation.

David Williams, the council's corporate director of children and young people's services, has written a report for the members of the cabinet at the meeting.

In it he said the numbers at Hamsteels are expected to fall to 45 by 2011.

He concludes: "While the proposal to close Hamsteels Primary School will inevitably concern existing parents, pupils, staff and governors, it will have short and long-term benefits.

"Primary education is better served in a larger school and a broader and more varied curriculum can be delivered."