I’D like to correct some errors in the recent coverage of Wareham Middle School playing fields (‘Save fields fight taken to commons’, Echo January 26).

The article says that money raised from the sale of the land will help plug a “£67m budget black hole” in Dorset County Council’s finances.

This is not true; in fact, we are looking to reinvest any money raised into school and community sporting facilities in Purbeck and the rest of the county.

We agreed in 2010 to switch the Purbeck School system from three- to two-tier to tackle more than 1,250 surplus places and improve education standards in the area.

This will involve closing the four middle schools, expanding the 13 first schools into primaries, and expanding the Purbeck School into an 11-18 school.

The new system will be in place by September 2013.

We plan to use the Wareham Middle School buildings as part of the expanded Purbeck School premises, and want part of the playing field to be redesignated for use by Lady St Mary School.

The remainder of the playing field will no longer be required for educational purposes and will be surplus to our requirements once the middle school closes.

Our next step is to apply to the Secretary of State to sell the land, who will only grant permission if we can demonstrate that we will reinvest insporting facilities for Purbeck.

Our plan is to create more playing fields at Purbeck School, which will be more suitable for pupils and sports clubs in the area to use.

Any party interested in buying the land in the future would also need to apply separately for necessary planning permission. I hope this clarifies the position.

CLLR TONI Coombs Cabinet member for children’s services, Dorset County Council