A COUNTY councillor has pledged almost £9,000 in a bid to get children walking to school.

Coun. Ian Hutchinson, who represents the Haltwhistle ward, has given Whitfield Primary School a grant of £8,939 from his small members captial schemes fund.

The money will be used to create a path to the school so that local children can walk or cycle to school rather than use a car.

The county council encourages children to walk to school were possible, but the distance of Whitfield School to the village, coupled with a lack of an appropriate footpath, means it is too dangerous for many.

Coun. Hutchinson said: "The children can't walk to the wonderful school because it's really dangerous, so we're going to have a track put in. It's hopefully going to go ahead straight away.

"The Good Shepherd Academy Trust has done wonders since it took over, and the school has gone from strength to strength.

"It's unfortunate that covid has come and the Ofsted report won't be coming out. I'm sure when it does come it will be outstanding.

Whitfield Primary School looked set to close in 2016, but was saved at the last moment and joined the Good Shepherd multi-academy trust.

The school's remarkable turnaround since then has been singled out for praise by many in the county, including Hexham MP Guy Opperman.