MAJOR disruption is expected across Gwent during a strike planned by public sector workers next week.

Council offices, sports centres, libraries, cinemas, cemeteries and even public toilets will be forced to close if thousands of staff support the strike next Tuesday in a row over pensions. Refuse collections are also set to be hit.

Many police support staff will also be on strike. Gwent Police assistant chief constable Bill Horne said emergency services would be unaffected. But he added: "If any member of the public needs to call Gwent Police regarding a non-urgent matter it would help us if they considered waiting an extra day to make that call."

Dozens of schools are set to close for the day as support staff, including teaching assistants, caretakers, canteen staff and cleaners take industrial action.

Schools which are already due to close include Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw and Pontymoile Primary in Pontypool, Newport Clytha and St Mary's Primaries, and Coed Eva Infants in Cwmbran.

Other schools have until the end of today to notify their local education authorities if they will close.

Ann Picton, head of Clytha Primary, said: "The support staff are absolutely essential to the running of the school, so we would have no choice but to close if they walk out.

"I wanted to give parents as much notice as possible, but we will retract it if the strike is called off."

A Newport council spokesman said: "Head teachers have been asked to ensure that the action has a minimal disruption on children's education and that only in extreme circumstances will it be acceptable for schools to partially or fully close to pupils. Parents should be informed by the school directly of any closure."

Councils are warning the public of service disruptions on Tuesday, and say only a limited number of essential services will be running. Because it is not known exactly how many staff will decide to strike, councils will not know what services they can offer until the day.

Nine public sector unions, including UNISON, the NUT, the TGWU, and the GMB, are supporting the industrial action.

They claim government changes to the Local Government Pensions Scheme will threaten the retirement plans of thousands of workers. Changes to local government in recent years mean that while many union members may not work directly for the local authority they are still members of the Local Government pension Scheme. This means workers in a variety of services, including local transport, charities, universities and housing associations, may support the strike.

Ian Reese, communications officer for UNISON in Newport, said: "We don't know how many staff are going to strike but feeling is running high."