A road smash has spurred on campaigners struggling to save their school to launch a fresh plea to authorities to re-think their plans.

Members of the Save Woodend Action Group say the siting of a new school at Thorn Garth is "a recipe for disaster". They claim children would be forced to risk their lives walking up and down a busy road to and from the school.

The calls come after a woman was taken to hospital with head injuries when a lorry overturned on the bonnet of her car.

The incident happened last Monday at Thackley Corner as the lorry was coming round an S-bend into Leeds Road, the stretch of road which children from Windhill will use to walk to Thorn Garth.

Under proposals for the two-tier system, pupils from Woodend Middle School and Eccleshill Upper will attend a new school on the Thorn Garth site. Governor at Woodend and member of the Action Group Norman Free said: "Bradford Council have decided to build a school in probably one of the worst areas they could think of.

"They're moving the school out of our district without thinking of the dangers they'll be putting our children in.

"Imagine what would've happened if the sort of accident that happened on Monday happened when there was upwards of 1,200 children walking up the road to school?

"It's just not on- we've got to put the safety of the children first."

Kath Quinn, co-ordinator of Windhill Community Centre, said the stretch of road near Thackley Corner had always been a dangerous stretch.

"With 1,200 children walking up and down every day, it could be a recipe for disaster," she said.

Campaigners at Woodend say they are determined to fight on to save their school from closure and will continue to oppose the new plans for Thorn Garth. "We will petition the Secretary of State and do everything we can to alter the position," added Mr Free.

Westminster pledge

Parents and governors battling to save their village school from closure today vowed to take their fight to Westminster.

And the campaigners say they are still optimistic that Baildon's Tong Park First School will stay open despite Bradford Council's proposal to shut it as part of the switch to a two-tier education system.

The school, which has 92 pupils and 40 children in its nursery, received formal notification of the council's final proposals last week and now has until November 18 to make its objections known.

Members of the Tong Park First School Action Committee, made up of parents, governors and staff, say closure would rip the heart out of the local community and leave many youngsters with much longer journeys to school.

Action committee chairman Michelle Stevenson said the group, which has been running a vigorous campaign since the spring, would be submitting its objections to Education Secretary David Blunkett as well as the council.

She said the fine details were still being thrashed out but added: "We'll be proposing that Tong Park becomes a primary school in its own right.

"We've been earmarked for closure all along and were expecting the formal notice but we'll be fighting on and taking this all the way to Westminster - it just means we'll now have to aim higher and shout louder which we'll do."

Representatives from the action group will be at tomorrow evening's Upper Baildon/Tong Park Neighbourhood Forum, which starts at Tong Park First School at 7.30, to update local residents on their campaign.

Full list of Bradford's school changes

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