ANOTHER step towards building a £12m school in east Cleveland has been taken.

Councillors agreed in principle that a Freebrough Community College should be built at Skelton, and not Brotton or Loftus.

However, the executive committee, the council's most powerful elected body, has agreed there should be further discussions with the school committee and other interested parties before a final decision is made.

At present, Freebrough college is located on three sites at Loftus, Skelton and Brotton, but dwindling numbers of pupils mean that the school must locate to one site in order to attract new investment.

The issue of transport to the new school was discussed at the meeting at Eston Town Hall on Tuesday.

Councillor Ian Jeffery, lead councillor for education, said: "The governors have brought the issue up many times, as you might imagine. As I told the council meeting, we need to provide good transport and make sure there are safe routes to school where free transport will not be available."

It is anticipated that developers Amey will pay the bulk of the building costs and the tax-payer will pay interest charges in a 25-year deal.

Previous discussions to build a £16m academy with private sponsor Vardy were shelved when the council and the company could not agree on a curriculum. The new school would remain under local education authority control.