COUNCILLORS have approved plans to merge Darlington's Harrowgate Hill infant and junior schools.

Darlington Borough Council's cabinet met last night and approved the plans.

The proposal comes after a Private Finance Initiative offer to replace the infant and junior schools.

Problems with access to playing fields and cramped staff accommodation in the infant school were some of the reasons officers pressed to move ahead with the merger.

The school's Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) report also passed comments on the dangerous position children were placed in when it received deliveries, with lorries crossing the playground.

It was always intended that when the junior school moved in 1981, the infant school would follow, and it has the facilities to maintain both schools, said a report from the council's education director Geoff Pennington said.