Peter Cunningham, headteacher at Sacred Heart RC Primary school, where work on a new extension began this week, moved to alleviate people's fears about construction traffic on The Meadows today.

He also explained lorries could not go across school fields because they would destroy a drainage system which stops houses on The Meadows from flooding.

Mr Cunningham said: "It will be minimal disruption to their lives. Hardcore will be put down to create a temporary road across the fields. Then a digger will arrive to dig out the foundations. That will go away and another lorry will come and put the concrete down. Then the bricks will be delivered and another lorry will bring the slates. When it's finished we will cover over the road and we've put aside £8,000 to reinstate the field.

"We have no intention of there being lots of vehicles up there. We can't possibly go the other way. We can't get vehicles up the hillside and if we go across our field it will destroy the land drain, which cost us £20,000, and their back gardens will be flooded."

Mr Cunningham said he had written to all the residents in The Meadows and had knocked on the doors of those directly affected by the scheme. Building work on one-and-a-half classrooms is expected to take 12 weeks.

But work has already been delayed because fencing put up by the contractors has gone missing. Angry residents turned out in force to a Colne and District Committee meeting beg councillors to stop the school using the street.