PARENTS are being urged to give their opinions in a review on the future of Darlington's primary schools.

By 2008, it is estimated that there will be 1,400 extra primary school places in the borough, and Darlington Council's lifelong learning review group is looking at the impact of falling school rolls.

The group's findings will help the council make far-reaching decisions which could influence the future number, size and location of schools in the town.

Surveys have been distributed to every parent and carer of primary age children in the town about the future or primary provision, and people are being urged to give their views and return the questionnaires.

Coun Cyndi Hughes, chairman of the lifelong learning scrutiny committee, said: "The review group is compiling details on all of the primary schools including their capacity and surplus places. We are also looking at the resources and remedial work needed at each school and how much it will cost.

"We have discussed things with headteachers and the education department, but they could only give so much information.

"We are very interested in why parents have a preference for one school and what a local school should offer.

"The questionnaires will allow us to have direct contact with parents and understand their views."

Coun Hughes added that the group was also interested in opinions about school size and preferences for admission arrangements.

"We recently visited Corporation Road School and found that it is serving the Bangladeshi community, a crucially important need in that area. As well as educating children, parents are coming in for literacy training," she said.

"We are looking to find out about other services provided and only people who live nearby can tell us.

"It's crucially important that parents reply. It is their chance of feeding into the review process and the future of the primary schools in Darlington.

"We will compile all the information and try to get an overview of what people think."

Coun Hughes said the questionnaires should be returned by the end of the month to enable the group to feed information to the council, before decisions are made in the next six to eight months