THOUSANDS of angry Little Hulton residents have backed a campaign to save the town's community school from closure.

Campaigners have collected more than 3,000 signatures for a petition to Salford City Council in just two weeks.

Protesters claim Little Hulton Community School's closure will wreck a four-year-old £20 million Government project to regenerate Little Hulton.

A public meeting is being held on Thursday(FEB 15) and a public protest is planned for outside the civic centre, in Swinton, on Wednesday, February 21.

Rev Kesh Govan, spokesman for Little Hulton Community Action Group, said residents were determined to save the school.

He added: "About £4.8 million of Government funding has been secured for Little Hulton which has been match-funded by about £17 million.

"Local people are angry that the council's decision to close the school will damage the whole of the regeneration programme for Little Hulton.

"It has identified the school as a focal point for the whole community."

He said much of the regeneration money had been spent on a new science and information technology unit at the school.

In addition, the sports hall had also been refurbished.

Shopkeepers were also worried they would lose trade if the school closed, he added.

Salford City Council has decided to close the school and merge it with Joseph Eastham High School, Walkden, with a new school created on the Walkden site.

It made the decision after Ofsted inspectors told it to cut the number of school places in the city.

A city council spokesman said that it had already taken its decision which could only be reversed by the city's school organisational committee (SOC).

He added that public consultation meetings had already been held before the city council took its decision.

Public information meetings on the closure would also be held soon in the Little Hulton area for parents and residents.

* Anyone who wants to oppose the city council's decision should write to Mark Carriline, Director of Education and Leisure, Education Office, Chapel Street, Salford, M3 5LT before March 18.