A GOVERNOR at a Melksham primary school has criticised the town council for "making judgements on hearsay" which have led to rumours that it is facing closure.

Gordon Hiscock, chairman of governors at Forest and Sandridge School, said he wanted to clarify reports linking the proposed building of a 700-home estate between Bowerhill and Melksham to the closure of the school.

Mr Hiscock said Melksham town councillors were welcome to visit the school and discuss the possibility of it moving to a new building at Clacker's Brook if developers build homes and a school there.

"If they come to us rather than making judgements on hearsay then they might get a fairer idea on how we are looking for things to go. I think they are needlessly worried," Mr Hiscock said.

At a meeting last week the council emphasised any decision on whether the school moved rested with the school itself.

"They are accountable

to themselves not the council," said Cllr Davina Griffin.

However, she said that the council were in favour of the site being used as a county school rather than a Church of England school, as this would mean a more inclusive system for local children.

Mr Hiscock said there were many benefits of moving the school to a purpose-built home because of the condition of the Victorian building on Sandridge Common.

Mr Hiscock said: "A fifth of our budget goes into keeping the school going. It's a Victorian school and so is expensive to run."

He said in a recent meeting governors at the school had urged parents to look at Westbury Leigh Primary School in order to see the success of a modern school, and pointed out that this was where the confusion had arisen.

The proposals would see Forest and Sandridge Primary School increasing in size, but Mr Hiscock insisted this would not affect the levels of teaching.

"At the moment we are under 30 in all our classes. That's what we would like to keep. None of the classes will increase, only the number of classes," he said.

A new school building has been proposed in plans submitted by the East Melksham Consortium for land at Clacker's Brook. The application, submitted earlier this month, includes 700 homes and a distributor road linking Snowberry Lane and Sandridge Road.