THE FIGHT to save a special school has received a boost from Blackburn MP Jack Straw as a petition opposing the closure tops 5,000 names.

Parents, staff and pupils from Crosshill, Blackburn, takes in young people with moderate learning difficulties (MLD) from across East Lancashire.

The fight to save the Shadsworth Road school began six weeks ago in response to Blackburn with Darwen Council's consultation over plans to close it by 2010, under the £150million Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

Education bosses want to close the school, the only one in the borough for pupils with MLD, and broaden provision for special needs in mainstream schools, in response to "parent demand".

Parents, pupils and staff have come out in force to protest against the plans, and more than 5,000 people have shown their support by signing their paper and online petition.

And Mr Straw's office has confirmed that the MP will be writing to the council outlining his concerns about the planned closure.

The campaign's main message is that if Crosshill closes, hundreds of young people with special needs will lose vital support and, in the words of one parent, will "have no future" - they say they know from past experience that many would not cope in a mainstream setting. Council education bosses met with staff and parents last month to hear their views, as part of a formal consultation process for BSF.

On Friday, campaigners went to raise their concerns with Mr Straw, who opened Crosshill's state-of-the-art e-learning centre in 2002, at his surgery.

Teacher Sharon Booth said: "It was a really positive meeting.

"We referred to the figures given by the council about special needs pupils in special schools, and he replied - on record - that numbers are irrelevant, I'm concerned about the closure of Crosshill'.

"It was really encouraging for us to hear that."

The campaigners plan to have a protest march at Blackburn town hall in the coming weeks.

That will be followed by a trip to London to present the petition to Lord Adonis, Under-Secretary of State for Schools.Campaign leader Peter Rush said: "The amount of support we're getting is gratifying.

"People are really looking out for us, and we're not going to give up the fight."

Peter Morgan, the council's director of children's services, said: "We welcome people coming forward to tell us what they think about our initial proposals under BSF.

"Later this month, we will launch the next phase of public consultation and there will be a series of open days and other information events.

"We hope as many people as possible will attend so they can find out more about what is proposed for all secondary schools in the borough, including Crosshill, and give us their views."