CAMPAIGNERS fighting for additional school places in a growing community are demanding a share of a £150m windfall.

Councillors in Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, are upset that their calls for a new secondary school have been ignored in proposals for the future of education in the borough.

Stockton Borough Council is holding consultation meetings with residents during the next few weeks to discuss initial plans to spend an expected £150m from the Government's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) fund.

However, residents in Ingleby Barwick are being urged to attend their meeting to lobby for 800 new places on the estate.

Councillor Ross Patterson, a member of the Ingleby Barwick Independent Society, said the 600- place All Saints Secondary School was not sufficient for the 1,500 secondary-age pupils in the area. And he said continuing to bus children to outside schools was not viable.

He suggested three options: ● The extension of All Saints ● An additional secondary; ● The 1,400-place Conyers School, in Yarm, be split into two sites, including Ingleby Barwick.

"Ingleby Barwick is one of the few places where the number of school pupils is growing, yet we only have a fraction of the places we need," said Mr Patterson.

"The BSF guidelines state that schools must meet the needs of their communities, and parents must have a choice. Those guidelines are not being met here.

"The £250,000 a year the council spends on busing hundreds of children out of Ingleby Barwick every year could be spent on buying up land in Ingleby for a new school site."

Councillor Alex Cunningham, the council's cabinet member for children and young people, said: "We are well aware of calls for additional secondary places at Ingleby Barwick. However, the funding we currently expect to be available from the Government does not allow for work to schools less than 15 years old.

"The Government has also indicated it will not agree to reduce the size of successful schools, such as Conyers and Egglescliffe.

With All Saints just four years old, there is no easy solution.

"As a result, at this stage we are only consulting on options we believe are viable and achievable.

"We will continue to seek opportunities for developing secondary education within Ingleby Barwick, whether as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme or outside it."

Anyone who has not received the council's Future Learning booklet on the education proposals can contact the council on 01642- 393939, or view it at Ingleby Barwick library.

The public meeting in Ingleby Barwick will be held at All Saints School, at 6pm on Tuesday, November 20.