School closures blocked by Lib Dem Councillors

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 22nd Jul 2004

Liberal Democrat Councillors on Bath and North East Somerset Council have blocked the decision to close Parkside and St Swithin's Infants Schools made by Conservative Executive Members.

Eight Liberal Democrat Councillors, and two Conservative rebels, led by Lib Dem Councillor Gerry Curran, the former Education Executive Member, have called in the controversial decision to close two city centre schools by the Conservative Councillors in the Executive.

Cllr Gerry Curran (Liberal Democrat; Twerton) who is the Chair of Governors at Parkside Infants School, says:

"We are very concerned at the process that was carried out over the closure of these two schools. It is clear that Parkside and St Swithin's were treated differently to the third school proposed for closure because they were urban schools. In addition one Executive member said that there simply was not enough information and evidence provided to make a decision.

"Parkside Infants, where I am a Governor, is an excellent educational facility where children are happy and do well. The closure of this very good school has simply not been justified.

"We are very concerned that the three schools have not been treated equally in this process and so the decision to close Parkside and St Swithin's was flawed."

Now that 10 Councillors have signed a call in of the Executive decision the closure will be halted and the issue will have to go to Overview and Scrutiny Panel who could ask the Executive to reconsider its decision.

The closure of Parkside Infants School saw a major split on the Executive with the 4 Conservative Councillors and the Independent Member for Education voting to close the school and the Liberal Democrats voting against (with 1 abstention).

Contact: Cllr Gerry Curran on 01225 330349 or on 07900 684562 or Tim on 01225 477419 or 07776 437161.