education chief Don Allen is to be called before a committee within the next few weeks to explain his decision to close Beech Down Primary School.

A special meeting of Hampshire's education policy review committee is to be held in June at which Cllr Allen will answer questions and detail his reasons for not opting to rebuild a smaller Beech Down school on its present Brighton Hill site.

This week, The Gazette and The Basingstoke Extra launched a campaign with the aim of getting Beech Down rebuilt - an option favoured by parents and many councillors, including some members of the education policy review committee.

While members of the committee can question Cllr Allen, they have no power to overturn his decision. This can be done only through the independent schools organisation committee which will consider any objections lodged to statutory notices on the closure.

If that committee unanimously approves the closure, it will go-ahead. But if there is a split vote or the closure proposal is rejected, the matter then goes to the Education Secretary who appoints an adjudicator to determine the matter.

Cllr Allen told The Gazette yesterday that the reaction of parents and children to the closure proposal had not surprised him.

Meanwhile, he said, his biggest concern was that parents should not immediately move their children out of the school.

Cllr Allen explained that keeping the children at the school would be in their best interests, because officers from the education department would work with individual parents to establish where they would like their children to go.