Councillors are threatening to take action over the way proposals to move a Mid Sussex school have been handled.

The row centres around proposals by West Sussex County Council to move Heyworth Primary School, Haywards Heath, to a site at Bolnore Village.

This would give children and parents in the Heyworth area a six-mile round trip every day.

Two Mid Sussex district councillors last week claimed the issue had been handled in an undemocratic way by the county council.

In a letter, councillors Paddy Henry and Richard Goddard, listed grounds for referral to the ombudsman, who acts as watchdog over councils, as maladministration, improper conduct, undemocratic behaviour, lack of openness, lack of transparency and complete disregard for working partnerships with other authorities.

Councillor Henry said: "Mid Sussex District councillors expressed amazement they had not been consulted on the issue in December.

"If they had been, they could have told the county council there was enough money to build a new school at Bolnore without having to get rid of any of the others."

Mr Henry said a separate letter of objection had been sent to Mid Sussex MP Nicholas Soames. The 11-page document had been signed by 1,700 parents and residents.

A spokeswoman for West Sussex County Council said all comments received during a consultation period would be taken into account.

She said: "There is guidance from the Department of Education which states who is and who is not an official consultee in such matters. And the district council is not."