The fate of two primary schools earmarked for closure will be sealed next month.

Brighton and Hove City Council is planning to close St Bartholomew’s Church of England Primary School in Brighton and St Peter’s Community Primary and Nursery School in Portslade to reduce the amount of empty school places.

St Bartholomew’s and St Peter’s are the two primary schools with the lowest number of pupils in the city, the council said.

Recommendations to close the schools at the end of this school year will be discussed at the children, families and schools committee on February 29.

It follows the end of the four week representation period after the publication of statutory notices.

The final decision on the proposals will be made by councillors at the special full council meeting on March 4.

The plan has caused anger among the community with parents and staff campaigning to keep the schools open.

Council papers, released ahead of a previous children, families and schools committee meeting in January, showed people who responded to the six-week public consultation disagreed with the proposals.

Critics said the council’s approach was “short term” and questioned the accuracy of the pupil forecasts.

They said children would benefit from smaller class sizes.

Concerns were also raised about the alternative options. Families served by St Bartholomew’s wanted to ensure their children attend a Church of England school.

People responding about St Peter’s had particular concerns about alternative nursery places for children with siblings in other year groups.

There was also scepticism about the availability of alternative places in the Portslade area.

Councillor Jacob Taylor, who co-chairs the council’s children, families and school’s committee, said: “We’ve heard throughout this process of the passion felt for both schools.

“We do understand these are upsetting decisions for our school communities and recognise the impact these proposals have upon the children, families and dedicated staff at the schools. These are tough choices and we are sorry the schools are in this position.

“However, reducing the number of empty school places is the right thing to do.

“With more than a fifth of primary school places currently empty, more and more of our schools are finding themselves in extreme financial difficulty, without the resources needed to provide the support to children they would want to.

“St Bart’s and St Peter’s are the two primary schools with the lowest numbers of pupils in the city and forecasts show pupil numbers will continue to fall.

“This is taking place against a backdrop of constrained and pressurised resources for funding not just of schools, but of all council services across all communities in our city.

“As a responsible council, we need to act now to secure the long-term future of the city’s schools.

“We will continue to work very closely with headteachers and governing boards to manage the process.

“Our priority now is to continue supporting the children affected to move to new schools, and keep the impact on them, their families and the wider school community to an absolute minimum.

“We will also keep exploring options for setting up alternative nursery provision in Portslade.”