IT'S been officially announced that a village school which parents battled to save will close in August.

Llanover Primary School will shut its doors for good later this year following an announcement by a Welsh Assembly Minister giving the closure the go-ahead.

The final decision was passed on to the Assembly's minister for children, education and lifelong learning, Leighton Andrews.

Proposals to close the school, along with Govilon Primary, were put forward in an effort to address the 400 surplus school places in the borough. Parents who were fighting the planned closure formed a committee in a bid to try and boost pupil numbers but had given up hope in October as they felt the decision was inevitable.

Former MCC cabinet member, Councillor Brian Hood told The Chronicle there were just 23 pupils at the school, which has a capacity of 58, and that Monmouthshire County Council was spending £3,000 more per pupil at Llanover than the average cost per pupil in the county.

In June, Monmouthshire County Council's cabinet decided to begin a formal statutory consultation period on the possible closure of both Llanover and Govilon Primary Schools.

Councillor Hood said, "I am very sad about it but it could not be otherwise. I represent a big area and I could not justify to myself the spending per pupil compared to the rest of the county. The pupil numbers were falling all the time. We have built a lot of lovely new schools . Just in Abergavenny we have Deri View, Llanfoist and Cantref."

Councillor Hood said the council is in the process of notifying everyone affected, "Firstly we are writing to the parents to make sure they all know and we will work to ensure the closure goes smoothly."

Llanover Primary School was built in 1925 by Lord Treowen, of Llanover Estates, as part of a memorial to his son Elidyr Herbert who was killed in the First World War.

Llanover Primary School, which is sited on Llanover Estate, was faced with closure as part of the council's bid to tackle falling rolls and surplus places in the north of the county.

Parents who fought to keep it open were backed by Llanover Estates during their campaign 'Viable and Vibrant.'

Councillor Hood said a decision on the future of Govilon would be announced this week.