Primary school mergers approved

Protesters cannot see the need for the merger

All 16 Shropshire primary schools facing mergers have been told plans to combine them will continue.

Formal consultation will now begin on 14 of them with a final decision expected at the end of July, Shropshire County Councillors have said.

But the uncertainty continues for the parents of Lydbury North and Clunbury schools in the south of the county.

Official discussions on their merger will be halted until a suitable site for a new school is found.

Formal consultation

Councillors at a meeting to discuss the plans approved formal consultations on the mergers of Oakland and Longmeadow schools in Bayston Hill and Ashford Carbonell and Caynham schools near Ludlow.

Merger plans were also approved for Holy Cross CE Junior and Springfield Infants in Shrewsbury, Mount Pleasant Infant and Junior schools, the Grange Infant and Junior schools, Meole Brace Junior and Infant schools, Oswestry Infant and Beech Grove CE Junior.

County council officers have recommended the affected schools close and be replaced with eight new schools, because pupils numbers are falling in the county.

Parent Judy Fletcher, who has a child at Oakland Primary School, told the meeting that "the merger would rip the heart out of the Bayston Hill community".

The cabinet member in charge of children's services, Ann Hartley, said: "A combined school could draw on the strengths of both schools, resulting in an outstanding school."

Original plans to shut 22 schools were scaled back following local objections.