PLANS to bring two schools together on one site in a County Durham town have been approved.

Members of Durham County Council's planning committee gave the go-ahead yesterday for the £1.3m replacement of the former Spennymoor West Infant and Middlestone Moor Junior schools.

The schools will be replaced with a 210-place primary school together with a 26-place nursery unit on land formerly occupied by the infant school, in Rock Road, Spennymoor.

The single-storey building will include a central dining hall with a glass dome roof and will face Rock Road, where the existing access for vehicles will continue to be used.

A staff and visitor car park will be built near the main entrance, and there will be separate entrances for pupils.

The area to the front of the school will be grassed and landscaped, and play areas created behind the school.

Security fencing and gates will be constructed around the development.

Both Sport England and The National Playing Fields Association offered no objections, but seven residents of Rock Road concerned about the plan, did submit letters.

Among their worries were the lack of "dropping-off" facilities, a risk of accidents due to increased school traffic, cars blocking off driveways and a lack of traffic calming measures.

Others felt the school was needed more in Middlestone Moor, not the Rock Road area of Spennymoor.

John Suckling, head of planning at Durham County Council, said: "While the concerns about on-street parking conditions around the school at particular times of the day is understood, it is not considered that a requirement for additional off-street parking and dropping-off facilities could justifiably be imposed in planning terms."

The plan was passed subject to conditions concerning design and landscaping, community access to upgraded pitches and changing facilities, and the production of a school travel plan