The Monkhouse Deaf Support Centre in Wallington Avenue is to close in September as the numbers of deaf children using the facility has fallen in recent years.

North Tyneside Council said the closure is good news, and illustrates the success of its policy of integrating deaf children into mainstream schools.

More and more parents of deaf children are choosing normal schools causing a drop in the number of people using the centre, the council claims.

However, Alison Lawson, north east regional director of the National Deaf Children's Society, said that the closure should only be welcomed if the right amount of funding is given to integration.

"Being the only deaf child in a school can be very isolating, there can be problems with communication, especially if the support isn't there," she told the News Guardian.

"There are very few children left in Monkhouse and parents are increasingly choosing mainstream schools for their deaf children.

"We hope the council is successful in helping more deaf children in mainstream schools and ensuring that the finances are in place."

Ms Lawson has been working with the council over the last two years on integrating deaf children into normal schools.

"In my experience, North Tyneside Council is good for inclusion and is working hard on integrating deaf children so they can achieve their full potential," she added.

However, other commentators on deaf issues criticised North Tyneside's move to close the centre, arguing that integration was the wrong policy to be pursuing.

Authors of the Grumpy Old Deafies blog, Alison Bryan and Jen Dodds said: "It ultimately could lead to damage for some deaf children's education.

"With the closure of such resources we enter a spectrum of a lack of choice and this ultimately has implications on children.

"Inclusion is a policy that has been driven by disabled people and ultimately led to a be all and end all approach within education policy.

"What disabled people have failed to understand is that deaf people do not share the same history education wise."

At Monday's cabinet meeting, Gill Alexander, strategic director for children, young people and learning, said: "In closing this unit, we've reached an important milestone, in that we've achieved our aim of integrating children with hearing impairment successfully into mainstream education across the borough.

"We know this is the most beneficial setting for children with hearing impairment, and it is also the favoured choice of parents.

"In attending local mainstream schools, the pupils can learn and socialise with their peers whilst continuing to access specialist support."