School closure decision delay
Feb 29 2008 by Sam Wood, The Journal
A DELAY to a decision on the closure of a South Tyneside School is politically motivated, campaigners fighting to save it claim.
The axe has been hovering above Boldon Church of England Primary, West Boldon, for several months.
A final decision on the closure was due to be made this month but has now been put back till the end of May or even June, after the upcoming local elections have been held. The Government has told all local councils they don’t have to submit spending proposals until after May.
It is thought the 100-pupil school may no longer be value for money because of falling attendance.
Sean Hudson, 44, a lawyer of Shepherd’s Way, West Boldon, whose eight-year-old daughter Gemma attends the school, is a member of the Save our School campaign group. He said he believed the council had put back the decision to avoid a possible backlash at the polls if the school was closed. Mr Hudson told the Journal: “It seems to me that the council are just trying to get the local elections out of the way before they make their decision. It just seems a bit cynical to me. The Government have given them the chance to delay the decision and they have taken it. I’m sure they feared getting hammered at the polls.
“If our school closed it would have an enormous impact on the community. There is no other C of E school within two miles of our school and the catchment is very deprived. A recent Ofsted report said the school was value for money. We need a strong school in Boldon. We are still fighting for our school.”
Mike Dillon, Acting Executive Director Children and Young People at South Tyneside Council denied there was any political motivation behind the delay. He said: “The Cabinet report has been rescheduled to the end of May because deadline for the submission of capital funding applications has been extended to the end of June.
“This provides an opportunity for the Local Authority to give fuller consideration to the range of issues and ideas emerging from the public consultations, including responses from the Church of England and Roman Catholic Dioceses. There have also been a number of other related developments that would benefit from a longer period of preparation for the final recommendations.
“A number of comments were received about the siting of some of the proposals and we want to carry out feasibility studies on the range of options to ensure that we have taken best expert advice before making final recommendations to Cabinet. In addition, we have had more precise information about the scale and timing of the release of funding available through the Primary Capital Programme.
“There have also been several modifications to the new regulations around school reorganisation (including elements to do with competitions for establishing new schools) of which local authorities were informed on January 10 and which came into force on January 25. We want to make sure that our processes comply properly with these.”
