PLANS for a primary school in a former pit village have been approved by councillors.
If Durham County Council can win £2.8m of Government funding, the school at Pelton, near Chester-le-Street, will open at the start of the autumn term in 2003.
The scheme will entail the closure of the village's infant and junior schools, which share the same site.
The rolls at the schools are falling, and the decline is expected to continue for the next few years.
The council plans to build a school with capacity for 390 pupils, and a 39-place nursery unit, on the site of the existing schools.
It will include a special needs teaching area, computer suite and out-of-hours club.
Officials will also look at the possibility of re-locating the nearby health centre and village library on to the school site.
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