A senior North Yorkshire councillor has been accused of hypocrisy and urged to consider her position over a complaint to the government about the closure of a school in her division.
Councillor Annabel Wilkinson has been criticised after writing to the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson claiming the process to close Kirkby Fleetham Church of England Primary School had been “undemocratic”.
As an academy, the school comes under the direct control of the Department for Education rather than the local authority.
Cllr Wilkinson spoke out after the Secretary of State made a substantive decision to close the school just two weeks after parents had been told of the proposal.
The executive member for education, learning and skills, who represents the Morton-on-Swale and Appleton Wiske division, said “scant regard” had been paid to the views of the community over the closure.
In the letter to the minister, 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”.
But this claim was rejected by Liberal Democrat councillor Andrew Murday who said Cllr Wilkinson had overseen the closure of at least three local authority schools since holding the education brief.
He added: “For those of us who have experience of attempting to overcome school closures by North Yorkshire Council, what comes as a shock is the hypocrisy demonstrated by Cllr Wilkinson when it comes to a school in her own electoral division.
“When Cllr Wilkinson and her officers threaten to close a school they carry out a superficial consultation but take no notice of the views of the parents or the community.”
Cllr Murday, who represents the Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale division, said school closures in North Yorkshire followed a common pattern.
“It starts with reports that pupil numbers are falling and the implicit threat to the school’s existence.
“Anxious parents protest to the council officers and members, but the threat of closure leads to an exodus of the remaining pupils and the closure becomes a fait accompli.”
As the executive member for education, Cllr Wilkinson is responsible for the controversial home-to-school transport policy change, which has seen the system change to only provide free transport to a child’s nearest school, rather than their catchment school.
Cllr Murday claimed the policy was likely to cause chaos because the guidance to prospective parents as they made their choices of secondary school was misleading.
He added: “As well as incompetence, Cllr Wilkinson now faces the accusation of hypocrisy.
“She should now carefully consider her position as the responsible executive member.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has contacted Cllr Wilkinson for a response.
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