A CAMPAIGN has been launched to stop the proposed move of a special school to the outskirts of a County Durham town.

Plans to move Windlestone Hall School, for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, to a site near Chilton were released to the public last week.

The school is housed in a 19th Century country mansion near Rushyford.

But Durham County Council education chiefs feel the historic building, once the family home of 1950s Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden, is unsuitable for the role.

They plan to build a £6m replacement 60-place school on land they already own at Chilton Blue House Farm.

The public meeting, in Chilton Town Council offices, drew a number of residents, mostly from the Dene Bridge Row area, which is opposite the proposed site.

Campaigners gathered at the council office entrance to gather signatures for a petition against the relocation.

Council officials at the meeting, where a virtual model of the new school was on show, said they believed they had reassured residents.

A spokesman said: "Their main concerns were about the presence of young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties in their midst.

"They were reassured by the headteacher and a representative of the education service that the pupils would be extremely well supervised.

"In fact, a pupil from the school was also at the meeting and his presence was very useful in answering questions and addressing the concerns about assumed problems."

But Gordon Bulmer, who drew up the petition, said there were still some objections.

He has sent a letter to council officials, which includes a petition of about 100 signatures.

Objections include the proposed green field location and its position next to a busy and dangerous road.

The letter says that the school would leave Chilton with an "unfair percentage" of children with behavioural problems in a small community where a small playground is the only recreational facility for them.

Mr Bulmer said: "The continuing bad publicity this school attracts will not improve the image of Chilton, which already has more than its fair share of vandalism and anti-social behaviour."

He said the campaign to prevent the school moving to Chilton would continue and expects more people to add their names to the petition.