Councillor dismay over 'undemocratic' school move

Kirkby Fleetham Church of England Primary School is set to close at the end of summer

A move to close a North Yorkshire school has been "undemocratic", showing "scant regard" for the community's views, a councillor has told a government minister.

In January, the Dales Academies Trust announced it planned to close Kirkby Fleetham Church of England Primary School, near Northallerton, at the end of the summer term due to low pupil numbers.

Campaigners pledged to continue to fight to keep the school open, with Annabel Wilkinson, North Yorkshire Council's executive member for education, writing to education secretary Bridget Phillipson to share her dissatisfaction about the process.

The Department for Education has been approached for comment by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Wilkinson said parents were informed on 16 January that the trust was proposing to close the school and that the government had given their in-principal approval.

The council said it was advised that a substantive decision to close the school was then made less than a fortnight later.

"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," Wilkinson wrote.

When the council makes a decision to close a school it is always reached after a "lengthy and very thorough public consultation process", she said.

"Your process has no consultation and pays scant regard to anything the community wants to say regarding the closure - this just isn't right," the councillor concluded.

The decision to shut the rural school, which has 18 pupils, prompted a campaign from parents, past pupils, and the wider community.

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."

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