FARCE descended on a council meeting when all but two councillors walked out rather than hear residents' concerns over a new school.

Angry residents sat through more than two hours of a Redbridge Council area two meeting on Tuesday before they reached the item on proposals for a private school at Winston House in the High Road, Woodford Green.

Planning conditions for the school have yet to be finalised by the council and some of the area two councillors could find themselves on the committee that decides them.

When it emerged that some residents wanted to speak on the issue, eight of the ten committee members decided that their impartiality might be prejudiced if they were to hear what residents said.

As the committee argued over what to do, one of the residents, Barry van Loen of Tempus Court asked if he could say something. Monkhams ward councillor, Michael Stark, snapped back: "No you can't. And I will walk out of the meeting if you do."

Mr van Loen said: "All I'm commenting on are papers that are in the public agenda."

Cllr Linda Huggett said: "I think that anyone who has read this report has compromised themselves."

Only two councillors remained on the platform to hear residents complain that the council had not informed them of plans for the school, that it would bring traffic chaos to the area, and cause misery for people living nearby.

Mr van Loen said: "The school's travel plan is a fantasy. A lot of the children would not be from the borough but it would be the residents of South Woodford that would be disturbed."

The meeting reconvened after a council officer agreed to pass the residents' comments to whichever committee decides the issue.