School mergers mean closures

Nick Watson Producer Politics Show West Midlands

Supporters want to save Oakland Primary School

Plans to merge 16 primary schools in Shropshire are coming under the spotlight after similar plans in neighbouring Herefordshire were scrapped.

Around 5,000 people took to the streets of Hereford to demonstrate after plans to merge 37 primary and secondary schools were proposed there.

The end result was Herefordshire Council's ruling Conservative administration said they would not close any schools during the lifetime of the current administration - meaning the axe has been spared until at least 2011.

Over in Shropshire the original plans for 22 school closures were thrown out after similar protests but they have returned in a remodelled form with the council now asking to close eight schools as part of a series of mergers.

Consultation important

Councillor Ann Hartley, Cabinet member for children's services, said the Conservative-run council was not just going through the motions and they will listen to the views of parents at the schools on the list.

"The consultation period is very important, and we will listen to what people have to say," she said.

"There are a variety of issues about the amalgamations which we would like to discuss, as well as the question of whether the plans should go ahead or not."

And she said the mergers were not a fait accompli.

Oakland could merge with another in the same village

Action group

"No decisions have yet been made, and the outcome of the consultation will be considered very carefully by councillors before anything is decided."

That will at least provide some comfort for parents at places like Oakland Primary School in the village of Bayston Hill, near Shrewsbury.

Under the council's proposals they will be merged with the Longmeadow Primary School on the other side of the village.

An action group has been formed, street demonstrations have been held and an active website called "Save Oakland Our Village School" has been created aimed at fighting the plans.

Successful and popular

Some sample views on an online petition from the site give a flavour of the feelings of parents.

Scott Caudwell said: "As a village community we must pull together and stop this happening. This school protects, loves and educates my children and I for one am not prepared to give up on that."

Jacqueline Faugere adds: "Jim Knight, our schools minister, said that we need to support successful and popular schools. There is plenty of evidence that Oakland school is both."

And so it goes on as a series of parents pay tribute to the school they love and it is a story repeated at the other threatened establishments across the county.

Blame game

Central government has been blamed by the council and the government has stated it is definitely not its policy to close rural schools.

However there is an underlying problem in Shropshire and it's basically one of birth rate. The good people of Salop just are not breeding at the rate they once did.

For instance, Shropshire County Council says that by 2010 a total of 110 of its 141 primary schools will have more than 10% of its places empty with around 50 of them being 25% empty.

That, say the council, is something the government does not like and it is bound to act to be more efficient when it comes to providing primary school places.

Legal challenge

Planning to close schools is always an emotive subject with accusations of ripping communities apart and killing villages being made regularly.

In fact the Shropshire Schools Action Group - which is opposing the mergers - is questioning the legality of the consultation process currently being carried out.

The big question is will Shropshire County Council press on with its plans or will it decide, as in Herefordshire, to put them on the back burner?

Our reporter Helen Jenkinson has been to Shropshire to find out whose will is strongest in the battle over primary schools.

Also in the programme ...

Should Birmingham develop a new super sports stadium capable of staging events like the Commonwealth Games?

That's the vision being worked on right now by the city's council and by Birmingham City FC.

The two organisations are currently working on a "memorandum of understanding" which is expected to become public sometime in the next few weeks.

Supporters of the stadium plans say it offers the chance for the Second City to host high profile sporting events and also offers hope to regenerate a badly run-down area of the city with a new stadium.

Critics wonder if a local authority should be getting involved in a project with a football club which has access to plenty of money of its own.

Commonwealth games

There is already a strong precedent for this kind of project in Manchester where a shiny new stadium went up to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

For many the stadium at Eastlands was a symbol of hope and regeneration in a quarter of the city that had been forgotten. After the games it became the home of Manchester City FC as they left their old home at Maine Road.

So could it really happen here as well and if it does should the taxpayer be expected to foot any of the bill?

Our Political Editor Patrick Burns has been finding out.

The Politics Show for the West Midlands, with Jon Sopel and Sarah Falkland on Sunday 16 March at 12:00 GMT on BBC One.

If you have an issue you would like us to follow up then please write to the producer of the show: Nick Watson, BBC Politics Show, The Mailbox, Birmingham, B1 1RF or email [e-mail]