PLANS for the £2m relocation of a primary school could be given the go-ahead finally after a blueprint was drawn up for land next to the present site.

An application for St Cuthbert's RCVA Primary School, in Crook, was withdrawn more than a year ago after claims that access to the building would be dangerous.

Highway bosses from Durham County Council said that the original proposals were unacceptable, premature, and could cause problems for people on neighbouring Sandringham Road and Windsor Terrace.

But a new scheme will go before Wear Valley District Council next week, which would see the building erected on the site of the school playing fields.

Funding was put aside for the project after it was agreed that the school building, on Church Hill, was no longer suitable.

Headteacher Barbara Simpson said: "We need a new building. It's extremely important. The building we're in is 151 years old.

"It is too small, there are no storage facilities, we have no disabled access, no group rooms for specialist teachers, like music and special needs, and the floor is rotting.

"It is unfit for its purpose. It has done a great service over the years, but it has come to the end of its life."

As well as the school building, a car park, playground and playing field are also included in the plans. Planning officers at Wear Valley council have recommended the scheme for approval.

David Townsend, head of development and building control for the council, said that the plans were exactly the same as they were a year ago, but just in a different location.

"They have just moved the building to a different place," he said. "This one's much closer to where the old school is, so it doesn't affect the residents that live on the estate."

County councillor Bob Pendlebury said he had agreed with the concerns relating to the previous site, but believed that the modified scheme addressed them.

He added that congestion would hopefully be avoided, while the tradition of the school being close to St Cuthbert's Church would remain.

He said: "I think it deals with the concerns - concerns which I shared very, very much. It's making the best of a situation which isn't easy.