BIGGER classrooms and improved safety measures should have been included in Otley's reorganised primary schools, it was claimed this week.

Town councillors are pressing Education Leeds to increase the size of the new classrooms planned at Ashfield Infants, Westgate Infants and All Saints Infants schools.

They have also joined calls for pedestrian crossings to be provided outside all three schools when they open as fully fledged primary schools in September.

At the moment, councillors say the new classrooms are the minimum size recommended by the Depart-ment for Education.

And they are also calling for fire sprinklers to be built into the new extensions.

At Monday's meeting of the council's plans committee at Otley Civic Centre, Councillor Colin Campbell said Education Leeds had missed an opportunity to provide the best possible facilities.

He said: "All of the class-rooms are the minimum size required, but eight to 11 year olds are quite big children and they really need the maximum size classrooms. I didn't expect to get the maximum size, but we need to be somewhere in between and if all it means is an extra course of bricks, then we should be pressing for it."

Coun Graham Kirkland also heavily criticised Educ-ation Leeds for not including fire sprinklers in the new buildings.

Fire detectors will be pro-vided, but not sprinklers, which Coun Kirkland said would put out fires and not just detect them.

"There is a time delay be-tween a fire alarm going off and a fire being put out, it is important that all these buildings have sprinklers because sooner or later a school is going to get burned down when there are children inside," he said.

Committee chairman Coun Gerald McGowan added that they should also be pressing for crossings outside Westgate School, on Bradford Road; outside Ashfield School, on Weston Lane, and for All Saints School on Gay Lane.

The committee, which was making observations to the plans which were conditionally approved by Leeds City Council two weeks ago, added that high safety nets should be put up around sports fields at All Saints school in Lisker Drive.

Meanwhile, Education Leeds has been forced to amend its plans for All Saints Infants School.

Contractors vehicles were expected to come through the rear of the school, but will have to use the main entrance following the objection of resident, John Hamer, of Kings Close.