CAMPAIGNERS against a school being built on a controversial site have hit back at their opposition after a headteacher was pressured into thwarting a meeting.

Members of Mapledurham Playing Fields Action Group (MPFAG) hit back after parents at The Heights Free School asked Rachel Cave, headteacher at Highdown School in Caversham, to cancel a meeting campaigners had arranged at the Surley Row site.

MPFAG had organised the get together of around 200 people to discuss the now-closed consultation on The Heights being built on the controversial playing fields site.

But the Chronicle has discovered that concerned parents from The Heights wrote a letter to Highdown's head tell her she should not allow the meeting to be held at the school.

An email seen by the Chronicle reads: "We have been requested by The Heights School to not host your meeting. As Highdown Sport and Leisure is a commercial organisation we, of course, wish to hire out this great facility to any group who needs a big hall such as ours.

"The request has been turned down therefore."

Mr Brommell branded the email as dirty tactics by the opposition and claimed it was a "blatant attempt" to thwart MPFAG's campaign.

He added: "We had members there and we talked to people about facts vs myths.

"We had to show them how to complete the consultation. I think most of them, myself included, would have completed it wrongly."

The email was sent from a group of parents from The Heights Free School. They stated it had nothing to do with the school's head teacher.

They stressed they had no problem with MPFAG hosting a meeting to promote their own campaign but said they were disappointed a nearby school had agreed to host it.

A spokesman for The Heights said: "We wish to clarify that The Heights Primary School was not opposed to MPFAG holding a public meeting to rally support against siting our school on Mapledurham Playing Fields, during the recent RBC consultation period. We accept and respect the right for everyone in our community to debate this matter.

"However, as a future feeder school to Highdown, we were greatly disappointed to learn that a meeting of this nature would be hosted by a fellow Caversham school. We felt that despite Highdown’s neutral stance, by hosting the meeting they could unintentionally be seen to endorse MPFAG’s much publicised campaign against the EFA proposal, to secure a desperately needed permanent home for our school.

"For a fellow local school to agree to host this meeting, at a time when the Heights is fighting to secure its future, was deeply concerning.

"As a result, three weeks before the meeting was due to be held, we alerted Highdown to our concerns, and asked them (before confirming MPFAG’s booking) to consider the message that this would send to our community.

"To be clear, our concern was with the location of this meeting, not with the meeting itself."