THE school which backs onto the site proposed for a paedophile centre will be forced to close if the plan goes ahead, a school governor revealed exclusively to The Guardian.

Frances Barden of Lyne and Longcross Primary School said moving the Wolvercote secure unit for adult sex offenders to Silverlands in Holloway Hill, Chertsey, would be the final straw for a school that is already struggling with low enrolments.

Parents have already said they will take their children away from the school if the centre is approved and families on the waiting list have expressed doubts.

Mrs Barden said: "We are a small school with only 60 children and the LEA is always trying to close us down, despite the fact that we have been awarded School of Excellence status. News like this makes it even harder."

However, some parents at the Lyne Lane school have vowed that they will not take the Home Office's proposal lying down.

Jo Bugden of Almners Road, whose seven-year-old son attends the school, and whose husband Mark sits on the board of governors, is at the forefront of this movement.

She said: "I personally want my children to go school in the village where they live, and this right will be taken away if the Wolvercote unit is re-located here.

"It is appalling that the government want to put an establishment like this so near to children. It's madness. The offenders will be able to hear the children playing, shouting and giggling at playtime. The move will put temptation right in their reach."

She added: "I am also scared about the impact that this could have on house prices. Young families are not going to want to move here, and who would blame them?

"Lyne is a beautiful, community-orientated village but I fear if this goes ahead it will tear us apart."

By.Sherelle Folkes