CAMPAIGNING parents fighting to save their village school have offered an "olive branch" to council officials who are facing an appearance at the High Court.

But the man in charge of the local education authority's plan to close the 123-year-old Affetside Primary School says it is too late to do a deal.

A decision on the proposed closure of the school will be made by a judge in London on December 11 after the parents' action group won a judicial review of the school closure decision.

The Bury Schools Organisation Committee says it has to close the school because of falling numbers of pupils.

The chairman of governors at Affetside offered an 11th-hour deal. Mrs Dawn Robinson-Walsh said: "We would be willing to meet chief education officer Harold Williams and other Bury council representatives to discuss some sort of compromise.

"The kind of thing we have in mind would be the withdrawal of the closure decision on the condition that we reach certain pupil levels over a pre-determined period." "Our contention is that the procedure by which this closure decision was reached by SOC was grossly unfair, breaching DfES guidelines in a number of areas."

Mr Williams refused the offer of a meeting, said many painful decisions had had to be made as part of their strategic review of schools.

At the end of 2001-02 there were 1,300 surplus places in Bury and that figure would increase by a further 1,000 by the end of 2007.

Mr Williams said Bury Council was satisfied that the correct procedures had been followed and that the judge's decision would reflect that.