PARENTS and governors are preparing to fight village school closures.

Durham County Council caused widespread dismay with an announcement that up to 23 schools could be shut and dozens more merged over the next ten to 15 years.

The authority said the shake-up would provide modern, environmentally friendly schools, tackle the problem of 11,908 surplus places and save the education authority £600,000 a year.

Although it has pledged full consultation, the council is already facing strong opposition and its officers and members are meeting local MPs next week to discuss the proproposals.

At Peases West Primary School, near Crook, governors have called a meeting on Wednesday, at 7pm, and the local strategic partnership is being brought into the dispute.

Peter Irving, who represents the Hilltop Villages on the partnership board, said: "We are losing two school, Peases West and Stanley, and the children could go to Crook. Everybody is up in arms. We are trying to encourage people to build more houses and keep the villages alive. But if you take away the schools, people won't come."

Dene Valley councillor Chris Foote Wood called on the county council to announce plans for a new school to replace the threatened Eldon Lane and Dene Valley primary schools. He said the loss of both schools would be devastating for the former pit villages.

Coun Foote Wood, chairman of governors at Eldon Lane, said both schools offered out-of-hours facilities, including breakfast clubs.

Councillor Neil Foster, the county council's cabinet member for education, pledged to consider all views.

He said yesterday: "We have identified that £300,000 needs to be spent on our schools to create new opportunities and benefit the education of the population of Durham.

"I want to see new, 21st Century schools for Durham, where one of our biggest problems is the falling roll situation.

"We also have schools built in the 1950s and 1960s, which have outgrown their life expectancy.

"I look at the overall picture and want what is best for the people of Durham, not for particular individual communities."

Coun Foster urged people to write to him at County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UB.