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Shropshire County Council has revealed a list of 22 primary schools proposed for closure.

Adderley

Barrow

Beckbury

Buildwas

Cheswardine

Church Preen

Dorrington

Farlow

Hope

Hopton Wafers

Kinlet

Maesbury
Moreton Say
Morville
Myddle
Nesscliffe St Andrews
Onny
Rushbury
Selattyn
Tilstock
Welshampton
Weston Lullingfields

Schools which could merge are: Ashford Carbonell and Caynham, Lydbury North and Clunbury and Oakland and Longmeadow.
Sixteen other schools are recommended for merger as part of the major reorganisation.
A public consultation will take place from 4 February to 18 April with a final decision taken in July.
Changes will come into effect in September 2009.
In addition there are proposals to amalgamate separate infant and junior schools at Mount Pleasant, the Grange, Meole Brace, Springfield, Oswestry infants and Beech Grove juniors.

To View the full report from Ian Budd, Assistant Director of Strategic Management, Shropshire County Council's Children and Young People's Services CLICK HERE (opens in new window)

How did your Councillor vote?
Thursday, 24 January 2008

Below is the list of schools on the closure hit list, along with their County Councillor and how they voted on the schools closure policy

Adderley	Mr Brian Gillow (voted in favour of closure policy)
Barrow \|	Dr Jean Jones (voted against closure policy)
Beckbury	Mrs Margaret Winckler (voted in favour of closure policy)
Buildwas	Mr John Everall (voted in favour of closure policy)
Cheswardine	Mr Brian Gillow (voted in favour of closure policy)
Church Preen	Mr Peter Nutting (voted in favour of closure policy)
Dorrington	Mr Peter Nutting (voted in favour of closure policy)
Farlow	Mr Adrian Coles (voted against closure policy)
Hope	Mr Peter Phillips (voted against closure policy)
Hopton Wafers	Mr Adrian Coles (voted against closure policy)
Kinlet	Peter Martin (voted against closure policy)
Maesbury	Mrs June Drummond (voted in favour of closure policy)
Moreton Say	Mr Brian Gillow (voted in favour of closure policy)
Morville	Mr David Gibbon (voted against closure policy)
Myddle	Mr Brian Williams (voted in favour of closure policy)
Nesscliffe St Andrews	Mr John Roberts (voted in favour of closure policy)
Onny	Mr David Evans (voted in favour of closure policy)
Rushbury	Mr James Gibson (voted in favour of closure policy)
Selattyn	Mr Trevor Davies (voted against closure policy)
Tilstock	Mr Gerald Dakin (voted in favour of closure policy)
Welshampton	Mrs Barbara Craig (voted in favour of closure policy)
Weston Lullingfields	Mrs Barbara Craig (voted in favour of closure policy)

The full list of councillors who voted to close schools were as follows;
(Taken from the attendance list provided by the County Council- there was a recorded vote)

Conservatives who voted for school closures
Mrs J K Allaway	Mr J A Gibson	Mr M J Owen JP
Mrs J B Barrow	Mr J B Gillow	Mr M G Pate
Mrs K D Calder	Mrs E A Hartley	Lt-Col G H M Richey
Mrs B J Craig	Mr J Hurst-Knight	Mr J Roberts
Mr G L Dakin	Mr W H Jenkins	Mrs S J V Sambrook
Mr R Davies	Mr C J Lea	Mrs E D Sandford
Mrs J P Drummond	Mr G B H Lee	Mr S J West
Mr D W Evans	Mr D J Minnery	Mr B B Williams RD
Mr E J Everall	Mr P A Nutting	Mrs M E C Winckler

Mrs Y K Holyoak - Independent

Mr T H Biggins abstained

Labour members who voted for school closures
Mr P D Box	Mr A N Mosley	Mr J Tandy
Mr J E Clarke	Mrs E A Parsons

Liberal Democrats who voted against school closures
Mrs A M Chebsey	Mr P J Corston	Mr J M W Kenny
Mr T Davies	Mrs D A Gaskill	Mr C J Mellings
Mr R A Evans	Mr D M J Gibbon JP	Mrs E V Parry
Major A H Coles MBE TD	Mr N J Hartin	Mr P F Phillips
Also voting against school closures Dr J E Jones Labour

PROTEST January 30th
People Power !
SCC have put on hold for at least 6 months the consultation for closure of 22 schools.
They are going ahead with the consultation for the schools to be amalgamated.
See PROTEST PAGE for photographs from the demonstration

The action group at Lydbury North Primary School have received the following from Ian Budd:

As you may be aware the Cabinet decision of 30th January has been called in under the County Council's constitution for scrutiny by the Scrutiny Panel. This means that the decision to consult is not implemented until the constitutional procedures have been concluded.

With regard to your questions:
1. Has a potential site for a Clunbury/LN amalgamated school been identified?
No- the potential and challenges with both existing sites and the potential for any new sites would be part of any consultation process.

2. If any alternative sites are identified during the consultation process will they be considered as viable alternatives?
If we were in consultation, views and opportunities for alternative sites would need to be considered on their merits by decision makers.

3. Have any proposals been discussed with developers concerning the Lydbury North site?
There have been no discussions with developers.

I know that some people during this process have suggested that the County Council or the diocesan authorities could benefit from selling school sites, this is of course absolutely incorrect. Any receipts are spent improving school buildings for the benefit of children. An example of this is at Bicton where the site receipt to the diocese was used to contribute towards the new school building. There are other examples where there are no potential receipts for diocesan authorities or the County Council, such as where there are reversion rights. It is perhaps also worth noting that no capital receipts from school sites are built into our Capital Programme assumptions.

4. We realise the LN site is not suitable for expansion (although other sites in and around LN are suitable) but please confirm whether or not you see the Clunbury site as a viable alternative for a 4 class school.
As at 1 and 2 above, there are less challenges at Clunbury than the existing site at Lydbury North. However, the strengths and drawbacks of existing sites and any potential alternatives (including any that arise during the consultation) would need to be considered as part of any consultation if commissioned.

For Lydbury North News please click on this LINK

Brief update on the School

At the County Council Scrutiny meeting last week which 'called in' the Cabinet decision to go ahead with the amalgamation of Lydbury & Clunbury schools I proposed that the amalgamations of both Lydbury & Clunbury & Oaklands & Longmeadow in Shrewsbury were removed from the list of 16 schools. This was on the basis that a number of schools in the list of 16 actually did wish to consult on amalgamations but clearly neither Lydbury or Oaklands wanted this to proceed. - Unfortunately my proposal was voted down by the panel 7 votes to 4. - (interestingly both the C of E and Roman Catholic representatives and the secondary schools rep voted with the Conservatives to defeat my proposal) - I was surprised at the C of E reps stance given the support the church has given to Lydbury, but he was a stand in rep who may not have had a full grasp of the background!

Following this, the full council voted last Friday to set up an independently chaired commission to examine the policy again, although this does not seem to be likely to report until 2009 and will not therefore be of any help to save Lydbury and the other schools still threatened with amalgamation/closure, since this will still roll forward based on the existing policy put in place on the 14th December.

From Nigel Hartin