THE debate over the future of two schools was reignited at a public meeting last night.

Parents of children at the Hurworth and Eastbourne comprehensive schools, in Darlington, gathered to discuss controversial borough council plans.

Town hall officials want to close both schools and bring them together in a new 1,200-pupil Hurworth School at the top of Yarm Road, Darlington.

The proposal has won support from both schools' governing bodies, but has sparked outrage in Hurworth, where villagers have set up an action group to fight the plans.

The Save Hurworth and Rural Education (Share) group wants to see the top-performing school retained in its present location.

Last night, at St Herbert's Church hall, in Yarm Road, group members said they were still being refused access to vital information by the council.

They reiterated their claims that an expanded, 900-pupil Hurworth School, on its present site, was the best way forward.

Share member Martin Phillips said: "A 900-pupil school would have accommodated every single pupil who had Hurworth as their first choice in the last five years. Nobody would have been turned away."

Some Eastbourne residents also stressed their insistence that they did not want a new school built on semi-industrial land, where pupils could be put in danger by the volume of traffic.

However, not everyone supported Share, with some residents saying they were delighted by the prospect of the new school.

One mother said: "I'm all for it. I know Hurworth has really good teachers and I want my children to be taught by them."