A senior councillor has told a government minister she is “staggered” at how undemocratic the process to close a North Yorkshire village school has been.
Councillor Annabel Wilkinson has written to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to express her dissatisfaction over the way the closure of Kirkby Fleetham Church of England Primary School has been handled.
North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for education and skills told the minister that “scant regard” had been paid to the community’s views on the issue.
Cllr Wilkinson said parents were informed on January 16 that the Dales Academies Trust was proposing to shut the school, near Northallerton, and that the secretary of state had given their in-principal approval.
The council said it was advised that a substantive decision to close the school was then made on January 29, less than two weeks later.
Cllr Wilkinson said in the letter: “Not only am I staggered at how undemocratic this process is, how little regard is paid to listening to any views of stakeholders and the community, but your own guidance is very misleading regarding the role of the local authority in the process and decision.”
The councillor said her authority has had to make the decision to close schools previously, but she said this had always been “after a lengthy and very thorough public consultation process”.
“Your process has no consultation and pays scant regard to anything the community wants to say regarding the closure, this just isn’t right.
“We have heard from so many people in the local community who are concerned about the way this decision has been made and I would urge you to respond to these concerns.
“Your guidance in several places refers to the “agreement of the local authority” to the closure. That simply isn’t true or accurate and is at best misleading.
“You made a decision to close this school before the local authority had made a formal decision regarding the rural presumption. I took this decision on February 25.”
The trust blamed the decision to close the school at the end of the academic year on a fall in pupil numbers.
The decision has ignited an impassioned Save Our School campaign from parents, past pupils, and the wider community to save the primary.
More than 600 people have signed a petition calling for the school to stay open.
Save Our School campaigner Tim Barker said: “The whole process stinks.
“There’s been a lack of oversight, a lack of authentic community engagement and a lack of humanity.”
The local democracy reporting service has contacted the Department for Education for comment.
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