PARENTS have less than one month to lodge their objections against a controversial shake-up of schools in Radstock.

Notices have been put up in the town telling parents how to raise their concerns about proposed changes that will see Radstock's four primary and infants schools merge into just two.

This follows Bath & North East Somerset Council's approval of the plans at a special meeting of the education committee last Monday.

Residents have until June 6 to lodge objections before the proposals go back to the council for the final decision.

At the meeting, several members of the public raised their concerns about the project. Some spoke against the proposed mixing of primary and infant schools whilst others questioned how the proposals would affect nursery places in the Radstock area.

The plans are to merge St Nicholas Infant School with the existing St Nicholas Junior School in a completely new building. Another school will be built at Woodborough Lane to serve the areas of North Radstock and Clandown, currently catered for by Clandown CE VC Primary School and Radstock Infant School.

They are due to open on September 1, 2004. However, a spokesman for Bath & North East Somerset Council said it is unlikely that the plans will go back to the council, because of the dissent shown.

He said: "The indications are that there will be objections against the plans. If there are, then their views will have to be considered by a body independent of the council the school organisation committee."

St Nicholas Infant School headteacher, Diane Mears, said the project was a long way from reaching a satisfactory conclusion.

She said she was concerned there would not be enough pupils to fill the two new primary schools, that the agreed £4.6m may not be enough to complete the two buildings and staff should be promptly informed as to where their jobs will lie.

She said the school and its governors could not agree with the proposal.

She said: "We are not convinced that the new schools will be filled. They will cater for 70 children but going by this September's figures we do not think that the number of children will be anywhere near that figure. The council needs to think if we need two schools of that size.

"We wonder whether £4.6m will be enough because the council has not bought the site for the other school so they cannot say for definite that it will be within the allocated amount.

"Finally, we are not quite sure where the staff will go when the schools merge. The council has said the staff in the existing schools will be taken on but we do not know exactly where they will go. We want to know this as soon as possible."

The words came in stark contrast to the comments made by other schools to the council, which were full of praise for the plans.

A spokesman for the St Nicholas Junior School said it had "enthusiastic support" for the project", whilst a sokesman for Radstock Infant School said it would "like to see the scheme finally realised at the earliest opportunity".

A report published prior to the council meeting said that the schools' concerns were "legitimate issues".

It continued: "We see no reason to believe that anticipated costs of site purchase will be above those estimated."

The report added that the review of numbers is "already in hand" and that the appointment of staff will be up to governing bodies which are bound by law to advertise the jobs that will be available at the new schools.