Rural schools have won government support to ensure their survival.

The School Standards Minister, Stephen Byers, has pledged to put a halt to the tide of closures, which has seen the loss of 450 village schools in 15 years.

Stephen Byers on the vital role of village schools (19")

In future any proposed closure by a local education authority would be 'called in' for scrutiny by the Secretary of State for Education.

Before any new closure, ministers would investigate the accessibility of a local school to the affected community.

Village schools: keeping rural life strong

Mr Byers stressed that the government recognised the importance of the school to the survival of a rural community as a whole.

Local education authorities would therefore have to learn to work around the government's new 'presumption against closure' policy.

"When a school closes, a village loses a vital focus...they can also have a knock-on effect on other services like village shops, setting a spiral of decline. This is what we want to stop, " said Mr Byers

He added that the 'rebuilding of rural communities' was vital to the Britain of the future. The survival of the village school would be key to that reconstruction.

The announcement comes at the end of a week marked by the anger of countryside campaigners at recent government policy.

Protest action comes to a head on Sunday with a march through London by an estimated 250,000 supporters.

Rural tempers have been brought to the boil by a number of issues. These include the beef crisis, greenbelt development, the anti-hunting bill and right-to-roam legislation.

Mr Byers made only passing reference to Sunday's march.

"So-called rural issues like hunting are important and raise real passion. But for most rural people it is education, health, crime and housing that really matter," he said.

Earlier in the week the government was accused of backtracking in order to appease the campaigners' wrath. Landowners were given two years to voluntarily open up their fields instead of being immediately forced to by law.

The Agriculture Minister, Jack Cunningham said that the Treasury will cover the costs of new anti-BSE measures, not charge them to farmers

Despite these conciliatory gestures towards country dwellers, Mr Byers was making no guarantees. Schools could still close, he said.

"But these changes will give them strong new protection and mean that the wholesale closure of the last 15 years will end."
 

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