THE family of a boy with special needs who was facing a 12-mile taxi ride to nursery every day is celebrating after council officials agreed he can go to his village school.

Three-year-old Isaac Cain, of Lanchester, near Consett, has been diagnosed with global developmental delay.

The condition means he has communication and learning problems - but doctors admit they do not really know why.

Durham County Council decided that his needs for one-to-one tuition would be best met by sending him to The Grove nursery, on the other side of Consett. The daily taxi fares would have cost the taxpayer an estimated £1,700 a year.

But Isaac's parents were desperate for their son to go to the nursery attached to Lanchester school, where his older brother, Jacob, aged seven, and sister Georgina, five, are pupils.

After they contacted The Advertiser's sister paper The Northern Echo over their plight, the LEA has had a change of heart and decided the boy can go to Lanchester.

Isaac's mother, Sarah Young, said: "We are very pleased. It means I won't have to wave off my little boy every morning in a taxi, taking him to somewhere he wouldn't know that was full of strangers.

"I hope my victory will encourage other parents in similar positions to keep on fighting. If you are strong minded and know what your child needs, you can get it."

She said the news had lifted the spirits of the whole family. "Isaac's brother and sister couldn't understand why their little brother wouldn't be going to the same school as them.

"Our weekends and spare time have been taken up with writing letters and phoning people about this. Now we can spend more time together as a family."

Regulations governing teacher provision demand one teacher for every 13 pupils. Lanchester has 39 pupils and three teachers, but next year will only have 26 youngsters in on afternoons, freeing up a teacher to concentrate on Isaac.

A county council spokesman said: "Having looked at it we were convinced that the nursery can provide the level of support that is required. This fits in with the parental preference."