BATTLE lines are likely to be redrawn this week over the future of Stockton Heath Primary School.

Only months after residents thought they had won the fight to keep the school open, borough council bosses have decided to press ahead with a new scheme to demolish the building and erect a new one.

Since the March decision to block plans, council bosses have gone back to the drawing board and considered other options including refurbishing the current building, building a new school on an alternative site, or submitting another planning application to build a new school on the same site.

Now, after further consultation with the school, parents and the local community, officials are urging council bosses to press ahead with the controversial option to build a new school on Egerton Street and demolish the current one.

Norma Cadwallader, recently appointed strategic director for children's services, said: "The work undertaken since the development control committee decision, clearly shows that the new build option best delivers the original objectives set out for the scheme - to provide high quality school accommodation for the children of Stockton Heath now, and in the future".

A number of residents have voiced objections to that option and say the school should be saved from demolition and refurbished instead, at an increased cost to the council.

Five thousand are thought to have signed up a petition to refurbish the current building.

A spokesman for the Stockton Heath Community Primary School Action Group said: "The decision-making process has been rushed, dominated by one-sided officer arguments and lacking the necessary objectivity.

"We have a fine school building, highly valued by the majority of residents. A more realistic refurbishment is in the best interests of the present children, future children, our environment and the wider community."

Members of the executive board of Warrington Borough Council are due to meet on Monday to decide whether to sanction the recommendation to submit a further planning application.

Log on to warringtonguardian.co.uk on Monday evening to find out their decision. hcartwright@guardiangrp.co.uk