A VILLAGE threatened with the closure of a top-performing secondary school last night put on a united front to issue a warning to council bosses.

Scores of people turned up at a parish council meeting to insist they will fight tooth and nail against Darlington Borough Council's plans to relocate the nationally-acclaimed Hurworth School.

Parents, governors and councillors crammed into the village's Grange Community Centre to urge the school's governors, who will hold a crucial meeting on Friday, to throw out the proposals.

Amid chaotic scenes, Hurworth Parish Council unanimously agreed that it would write to the governing body, calling for the contentious plans to be rejected.

The Northern Echo revealed last week how the borough council was planning to close Hurworth School and Eastbourne Comprehensive, in Darlington.

Town hall bosses want to see Hurworth effectively take over Eastbourne and a new 1,200-pupil "super-school" built at the top of Yarm Road, in Darlington.

It would be called Hurworth School and take pupils from both existing catchment areas.

The project would be backed by £20m of Government funding and has been hailed by the authority as a "wonderful opportunity" to raise educational standards.

But it was fiercely condemned at last night's meeting.

The parish council also agreed to stage a public meeting, at a date yet to be decided, when the views of all residents can be heard.

Many were left outside yesterday's meeting because of the numbers attending - with dozens having to stand on the stairs or out in the car park.

Chairman Ian Black opened the meeting by revealing his personal hopes for the school's future.

He suggested that the existing school be demolished, possibly to be replaced by executive housing, and a new one - known as Hurworth Grange School - built on the site of the community centre.

"The alternative is a school at the back of an industrial site - no thank you," he said.

Coun Black said he would also be asking the parish council to hire planning and educational consultants to discuss its options.

Coun Clive Bullock, who has withdrawn his membership of the Labour Party over the proposed move, urged villagers to wage "a sustained campaign to stop that lot at the town hall".

He said: "What the governors really want is the support of the village to say no."

Peter Foster, who represents Hurworth on the borough council, said neither he nor fellow village councillor Rod Burtt had been given prior warning about the plans.

He said the community had successfully battled against plans revealed by Durham County Council - the then education authority - to close the school ten years ago.

"This time it's worse. This time we'll have a bigger fight and I hope we can turn it round like we did ten years ago," he said.

Coun Bal Shukla insisted that "small is better" - a reference to the school's present limited capacity - and urged people to "fight together to the bitter end".

Councillors also accused town hall officials of keeping the truth about their proposals under wraps for a considerable length of time.

Coun George Lawman said: "It's terrible that this has taken so long to come out.

"I'd like to know what the borough council has been doing for the last six or nine months."

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