PARENTS fighting the proposed closure of a village primary school are using the new Freedom of Information Act to get hold of council documents about the plans.

The Ponthir Action Group are demanding that Torfaen council hand over all documents relating to the proposed closure of Ponthir VC School.

They hope to force the council to disclose the information in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, which became law on January 1.

Last month Torfaen council's cabinet voted to consult on the future of Ponthir School, along with Pentwyn School, in Abersychan, and Brookfield School in Cwmbran.

The three primary schools were earmarked for closure after a huge review of primary education in the borough.

The council estimates there will be a surplus of 2,500 primary places by 2008 - one in four.

Ponthir Action Group member Lynn Grant, whose four-year-old son, Tomos, is the youngest pupil at Ponthir School, said the group has written to the council's director of education, Mike De Val.

"We would like to have some sort of rationale about how they made the leap from consulting to making a decision on which school is to close," said Mrs Grant.

"I can't see how they have gone through and eliminated some schools from the list and included others. The procedure has been slipshod all the way through.

"We are also concerned that there may be an agenda with this that is not educational.

"At the cabinet meeting director of education Mike De Val said,'if we can't win this on educational grounds we don't deserve to win at all'.

"If there is any evidence the closure is for other reasons we want to know why."