A Yeadon primary school is set to be demolished and reopened in a brand new building.

Plans to demolish Southview Primary School in Rufford Avenue, are this week being referred to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to be approved.

The former school will then be replaced with a new school and an extra nursery facility by 2005.

The rebuild is part of a £24m boost which involves ten primary schools being rebuilt in Leeds.

MP Paul Truswell welcomed the decision by the Government to give the go ahead to Leeds City Council to bid for private cash to build the schools.

Mr Truswell said: "It's great to feel a sense of movement on this. I visited the schools shortly after I was elected in 1997, and it was clear they were struggling with some of the accommodation. Much of the infant school accommodation is in huts, and the junior school is over 120 years old.

"The staff, pupils and community deserve a school that meets 21st Century standards. I'm glad that all the hard work they have put in, and the lobbying I've done on their behalf is beginning to bear fruit. There's still a lot of work to do in terms of getting this project right, but at long last we're under way."

It is the third Private Finance Initiative (PFI) to be approved for Leeds schools.

The PFI means that private firms build and maintain the schools, usually for about 25 years.

The schools are the first to be revealed by Education Leeds as part of a bid to reduce 10,000 surplus places in the local education authority which cost a reported £5m a year.

A new school would be built on the existing junior site by September 2005.

But this marks only the first stage of the planning process because the plans did not include specific siting. Further plans are likely to be submitted once the proposal has been accepted in principle.

Access to the school is proposed to be off the eastern end of the school site facing on to Rufford Avenue.

The decision for the altered access point was made after traffic complaints in the area were raised.

Alderman and former Leeds City Councillor Moira Dunn headed a campaign to stop plans going through for a petrol station near the junction of Harper Lane and South View Road.

Mrs Dunn said that the increased traffic in the area would leave children going to Southview Primary School in "grave danger."

As a councillor Mrs Dunn campaigned for extra crossings in the area, and was pleased when one was installed, but hoped for more.

At the Leeds North West Planning Panel meeting, planning officers said that in further plans there should also be provision for another crossing near to the school.