A GWENT education chief apologised "unreservedly" for offending parents who are fighting to save their closure-threatened comprehensive school.

Torfaen's executive member for education, Councillor John Turner caused outrage last week when he branded protesters trying to save Trevethin community school 'rag, tag and bobtail opposition'.

Now he says his comments were not directed at parents of children in the school, but would not say who the inflammatory remarks referred to.

Protesters are calling for the council's leadership and the Labour Party to step in and take action over the remarks.

The row erupted over a letter Councillor Turner sent to Torfaen's AM Lynne Neagle, in which he accused campaigners of not "giving a damn" about education issues in the closure of Trevethin School.

He also claimed deprivation was a "state of mind", despite Trevethin ranking 27 out of 800 council wards on the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation.

Education chiefs recommended the school's closure last week, but its demise has been on the cards for more than a year because of a dramatic fall in numbers to less than 400.

Councillor Turner said: "The views were taken out of context and formed part of previous discussions I'd had with Ms Neagle. I realise the comments have caused some people offence and for this I apologise unreservedly.

"My comments were in no way intended to refer to the parents of the children in Trevethin who have understandable, genuine concerns about the impact of change on their children.

"At the heart of this is the need to improve educational opportunities for children and young people of Trevethin and I regret that this debacle has detracted from that."

Arthur Attwood, chairman of the Community Action Team, fighting to keep the school open, said he was still "aghast" at the comments, which he said had caused widespread anger in the community.

He said: "We do not accept the apology, because we do not feel the comments were taken out of context.

"It's all very well to retract what was said, but as far as I am concerned, he meant it.

"We are now calling for appropriate action from the Labour Party and Torfaen council's leadership."

Mr Attwood said a copy of the offending remarks had been sent to education minister Jane Davidson.

Torfaen AM Lynne Neagle, said she regarded the matter as "closed", and added she was "keen to work with Torfaen council, parents and pupils" on the future of the school.