AN EBBW Vale Primary School is facing closure after a council report said it does not have not enough pupils.

Garnlydan Primary School, in Commonwealth Road, Garnlydan, can accommodate 118 children, but has seen pupil numbers drop from 81 to 32 in just four years.

Now Blaenau Gwent Council’s executive committee has agreed to go out on consultation to close the school on August 31, 2009.

A report on the future of the site concluded that there is a significant risk that the school will become educationally and financially non-viable in the near future.

However, local residents have hit out at the plans saying it would be another bitter blow for the people in the area after local social venue the Garnlydan Club closed last Monday (Nov 3).

Chris Hunt, 26, of Fernbrook Close attended the school along with his sisters Kelly, who is now 28 and Katie, 23. He was also planning to send son Charlie, 16 months there.

He said: “It would be another blow if it closes. The Garnlydan Club has gone and we will have to run our football and pool teams from the car park.

“I’m a bit gutted the school may close too. It's been here so long and I always thought that it was one of the better ones in the area.”

Anne Bennett, 53, of Beechfield Close also educated her four children at the school.

She said: “There’s not a lot here, but they could have kept it open. “There were disruptions last year when it was threatened with closure and people moved their children to Glyncoed, Beaufort Hill and Rassau.

“But they brought them back this year and now this happens. My friend’s daughter is breaking her heart.”

A Blaenau Gwent council spokesman said that as a result of the low pupil numbers, the local authority is concerned the school will experience difficulties in providing the full range of educational and personal development opportunities for individual pupils.

He added that there would be no significant financial savings from the proposal.

The nearest alternative school is in Rassau, which is a five minute bus journey and the service runs every half an hour.

Staff at the school declined to comment.