RESIDENTS in Whitefield have launched a campaign to stop the building of a new Jewish primary school on an area of green belt land.

A state-of-the-art "super school" and leisure centre is being proposed for land off Old Hall Lane to replace the current Bury and Whitefield Jewish Primary School.

The existing school campus, situated in Parr Lane, Unsworth is 40 years old and in a bad state of repair.

Governors and members of the Spear Trust, which owns the building, originally wanted to relocate the school to greenfield land off Park Road, near Philips Park.

However, new proposals are being put forward to Bury Council to site the 25-acre school in a field near the Old Hall Park estate, off Ringley Road.

A meeting was held at the school in Parr Lane on Tuesday evening and around 300 people turned up to voice their concerns.

Chairman of the Old Hall Park Residents' Association, Mrs Yvonne Moore, said: "This 'dream' campus has turned into a nightmare. The meeting was heated to say the least.

" The proposals would give rise to a further 370 vehicles moving on and off the estate each school day, according to the schools traffic consultant. This would more than double the present flow of traffic and the proposals for improved highway access and enhanced public transport were felt to be derisory."

The plans also include proposals to use the campus as an after-school-hours leisure centre, with a swimming pool, sports hall, cricket pitch and all-weather pitch.

Mrs Moore said that if it was open until 10pm the traffic problems would affect residents for 14 hours a day.

She added: "We already have ample private and public facilities within a three-mile radius which are currently underused. There is Philips High School, Total Fitness and Radcliffe Pool."

The association also raised concerns about local wildlife and the environment, claiming that the proposed school would be close to an area of public woodland intended as a haven for wildlife and a habitat for native plants and trees.

Mrs Moore added: "I knew there was strength of feeling about this but I didn't realise just how much until the meeting.

"We are now planning our own meeting on Thursday, April 7, at Stand Unitarian Chapel and we will be presenting petitions to the local authority."

Chairman of governors, Rabbi Avrom Jaffe, said that the purpose of the meeting was to hear the concerns of residents before formally submitting the plans.

He said: "Now that we have heard these concerns we will take them into consideration."

A spokesman for Bury's planning department said that as the proposals were for green belt land it would not normally be acceptable and this had been made clear to the applicants.

He added: "This will be a problem for them but they are entitled to apply."