Governors are appealing to Education Secretary David Blunkett to overturn a decision to move their school to a new site.

They are angry Bradford Council is pressing ahead with plans to transfer the Church First School in Thornton to the Leaventhorpe Middle School site in Allerton as part of its schools review.

Governors say pupils living in Thornton will have to use a footpath - which leads across a rickety bridge over a beck - unsuitable for young children and parents with pushchairs.

The only alternative is a car journey along Allerton Lane or a long trip via Bell Dean using two buses.

They have now formally agreed to the Council's proposals - but, they say, only because they were forced to.

Parent governor John Tempest claimed the Council had used bullying tactics in threatening to shut the school it governors did not agree to the move.

"At the Church School we have a policy of no bullying and it works well, as parents and children will testify," said Mr Tempest, whose five-year-old daughter Jessica is a pupil at the school.

"The governors stress that people should stand up for their rights as individuals and as a group.

"If we had refused to accept the findings of the schools review team and not given permission for the significant change of character, the Council threatened to close the school and appoint their own lapdog governors."

Governors have placed an advert in the public notices column of the Telegraph & Argus explaining that they have complied with the Council's decision only under duress.

"They have demonstrated that they don't care about the safety of our children and so our fight will continue to the Secretary of State," said Mr Tempest.

Governors have two months to present their case to Mr Blunkett and try to persuade him that the Council should be overruled.

Councillor Jim Flood (Lab, Bingley), chairman of Bradford Council's education committee, said today: "To talk in terms of threats is unfortunate. Thornton is an area where changing to two-tier presents difficulties and there were conflicting views on the best way forward.

"The local education authority and the diocese were agreed on the proposal and I welcome the governing body's decision to accept it."

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