THE Ombudsman is investigating a complaint against Monmouthshire county council over their handling of the schools' closure programme.

Mrs Norma Watkins, who chairs the governors of closure-threatened Park Street Infants School, Abergavenny, told a packed public meeting last night that she had heard confirmation that morning that a complaint against the council would be investigated.

The revelation came at the launch of a new campaign to try to stop the school closure programme and force Monmouthshire county council to go back to the drawing board. Protesters claim the process to close nine Monmouthshire infants and junior schools has been flawed from beginning to end.

More than 200 people attended the meeting in St Mary's Church, Abergavenny, to launch the SMASCH (Save Monmouthshire and Abergavenny Schools) campaign.

It was chaired by the vicar, the Rev Jeremy Winston and speakers were Huw Edwards, Labour MP for Monmouth, David Davies, Conservative AM for Monmouth, Michael German, Liberal Democrat AM for South-East Wales and deputy first minister at the Assembly, and Stephen Thomas, Plaid Cymru's prospective Assembly candidate.

Campaign organisers are collecting signatures on a petition objecting to the closure programme. So far, each individual school threatened with closure has fought its own battle. Last night's meeting was an attempt to bring them together to fight under one umbrella.

The complaint to the Ombudsman is just one attempt by halt the schools' closure programme.

He will investigate how one councillor who was a cabinet member involved in making the original closure decision then came to chair the select committee which scrutinised that decision-making process.

"The Ombudsman is investigating our complaint that Councillor Peter Fox chaired the select committee meeting which scrutinised the cabinet decision to close the schools. "Our concern was that he was the council's front man during the consultation period, as the cabinet member for lifelong learning, and he advocated the programme of closures." Park Street school governors are still going ahead with a request for a judicial review of the decision.

Mrs Watkins said: "So far Monmouthshire county council has only paid lip service, they will have to listen to the will of the people in Abergavenny.

"They have under-estimated the strength of feeling of the people of Abergavenny. They have tried to divide and rule us but they have failed, we will stand together as one to stop this."