A GOVERNMENT watch-dog has urged Mon-mouthshire council and protesters fighting plans to close a school to settle their dispute themselves.

Angry parents and governors complained to the Ombudsman that in October the council had not consulted them on a planned change to standard pupil numbers at Park Street Infants School.

Park Street Infants is one of eight Abergavenny schools threatened with closure by a shake-up of primary education.

Norma Watkins, of Save Monmouthshire and Abergavenny Schools (SMASCH), said the council is trying to reduce the figure from 48 to 30.

The figure is a guideline for the best intake of children a year. A drop would cause the school's revenue and teaching resources to fall between now and any planned closure, Mrs Watkins said.

In a letter to her, the Ombudsman suggests that the council and parents sort out the dispute between them.

He advised, however, that if they cannot come to an agreement, it will press ahead with an investigation.

Mrs Watkins said: "The loss of 18 from the standard number has a really big knock-on effect. Closure is planned for September 2006 so teaching could go down for the next three years.

"We would lose two teachers, and secretary hours. "We might have to use mixed age classes. We would also have to refuse out-of-catchment children."

She said it also creates a convenient 'fit' for the council's plans to have a 210 place primary and nursery school at the site of the current Harold Road Junior. The 210 place school would take pupils from the closed Park Street School.

Mrs Watkins, also chair of governors at Park Street Infants, said: "The council must consult with the chair of governors and the headteacher about these figures. They haven't done either.

"I'm not going to make it easy for them to try to get away with this. "I am pleased the Ombudsman has taken it this far." The Ombudsman is a watchdog who looks into complaints of government maladministration.

A council spokesman said the council had not yet received its letter, and so was unable to comment.

The complaint is one of five that SMASCH have sent to the Ombudsman. Another currently under investigation concerns the cabinet member Rob Griffiths, who moved from head of education to leader of best practice, community planning and e-government on Tuesday.