PARENTS have promised to continue a campaign to seek a long-term solution to growing demand for places at a village primary school.

Durham County Council has agreed to sanction £110,000 for adaptations to allow Coxhoe Primary School to accommodate five extra pupils in September.

But parents, who met to discuss the next phase of their campaign at the weekend, want to see action taken to ensure all village children will be able to attend the school in future years.

While 35 new starters will be able to go to the school in September, an estimated 44 will be put forward for admittance in 2002, and 52 in 2003.

Coxhoe Kids in Coxhoe School action group coordinator, Paul Dodsworth, said more than 100 parents attended Saturday's meeting at the village workingmen's club.

But he expressed dismay that no one from the county council, or its education authority (LEA), responded to invitations to attend.

Mr Dodsworth said: "It went well, as well as it could in the absence of the LEA and county council. The community of Coxhoe was extremely disappointed that they chose not to be present. People wanted questions answering and no one was there to do that.

"It was unilaterally agreed after the action group success in securing the admissions of the extra five children that we should focus on ensuring all children in Coxhoe should have the opportunity to get into the village school," he said.

"It's not just going to disappear. It's going to become a much bigger problem. We've had a problem getting 35 children into the school, never mind 44 or 52.

"There are about 500 new houses being built in Coxhoe over a ten-year period, new houses are going up all the time.

"I don't know what requirements will be needed to ensure the school will be able to take all the children in Coxhoe, in future. They need to look at the site they have and rationalise the facilities they have. If they need extra classrooms on the site there is scope to do that."

Mr Dodsworth said the action group will meet tomorrow, at the Black Horse pub in Coxhoe, to discuss the next step in its campaign.