EDUCATION chiefs have reassured campaigners that plans to allow more pupils into a village school cannot be overturned.

Durham County Council has pledged to raise the admission limit for first years joining Coxhoe Primary School from 30 to 35.

The move followed campaigning by the Coxhoe Kids in Coxhoe School Action Group, which was launched by parents worried that their children would have to go to schools in neighbouring villages.

The council has also pledged to provide an extra teacher and to spend £113,000 to upgrade the school to take the extra pupils.

But the group became worried after headteacher John Brennan referred the matter to the Department for Education and Employment, claiming the council may have acted in error or unlawfully.

The department told the council that the regulations require councils to refer any proposed changes to admission arrangements to the Schools Adjudicator.

"The council has announced publicly what it is going to do and we are concerned that these plans could be called into question," said action group spokesman Paul Dodsworth.

"What would happen if the decision was overturned?"

But a council spokesman said: "As far as we are concerned, nothing has changed.

"We have been in touch with the Schools Adjudicator who, I understand, has informed us that any mid-year changes in admissions limits falls outside his jurisdiction."

Action group officials will visit County Hall in Durham today to discuss with senior councillors and officials its survey on the number of older pupils who cannot get a place at the school.

The group hopes that, eventually, the county council will increase the capacity of the school to admit pupils who have to go to school in other villages.

The campaigners say that officials have underestimated the number of families moving to Coxhoe to live in new housing developments.

l The action group held an Easter fun day in the village, which raised £165 for funds.