Plans for a school on a new commuters' housing estate could lead to the closure of a popular local primary.

Education leaders at West Sussex County Council are considering closing the 300-place Heyworth Primary in Haywards Heath and replacing it with a bigger school three miles away, inside the walled confines of Bolnore village.

Parents whose children are already pupils at Heyworth are furious about the scheme and have launched a petition to save their school.

The council is considering the plan as part of a shake-up of primary education in the town.

Developers Crest Nicholson, agreed to set aside 1.4 hectares and put almost half a million pounds towards the cost of a new school to serve the 1,000 new homes at Bolnore.

But locals only found out last week that the deal could mean sacrificing the present primary school by 2005.

The site would be sold for about £2 million with the cash raised used to pay the rest of the £2.5 million cost of building the new school.

Former pupil Sadie Swaine, who now has a child at Heyworth, has helped organise a petition against the move.

She said: "This school serves a community and many parents walk to pick up their children from school."

She also said it should be the people moving into the town who should have to travel to school, not the 300 children already in the area, many of whose families do not have cars.

The move is one of three ideas put forward as part of a primary school review in Haywards Heath by West Sussex County Council.

About 1,200 houses are to be built south of the town over the next few years at Bolnore and the former hospital site.

Estimates suggest the area will need to create 36 new school places in each year to serve the newcomers.

Parent Debbie Dorman, who has one daughter at Heyworth and another who is almost two-years-old, said: "I think it's pretty disgusting the way it's been kept quiet. We had no warning, the first I heard was when my cousin told me about it last week."

Miss Dorman, of Hanbury Lane, said by the time the school was built, she would have two daughters at the school.

She will have to make two trips a day to school - a total of 12 miles if the school was in Bolnore.

Mother Sue Sloper, of New England Street, said: "I don't drive and I'm not very happy at the prospect of the school moving."

Copies of the consultation document were being handed out to parents at Heyworth this week.

Councillor Richard Goddard has asked for the plan to be debated at Haywards Heath Town Council on Monday.

He said: "At no time can I remember the new school at Bolnore being put forward as a replacement school for any in Haywards Heath.

"As a town councillor I was very disappointed not to have been told about the situation earlier."

The other two options being considered by West Sussex County Council are either taking the extra children into the existing schools or building a school at Bolnore solely for children who live there.

The latter option would cost £1.5 million, with the developers still contributing £470,000.

Phil Whiffing, county education officer, said the council wanted to hear people's views on the plans.

Parents have until February 21, to send their comments to the council.