Hove town hall protest over planned school closures

Campaigners gathered ahead of a full council meeting

Parents gathered outside Hove town hall to protest against plans to close two schools and reduce pupil numbers at nine others.

Brighton and Hove City Council plans to shut St Peter's Community Primary in Portslade and St Bartholomew's Church of England Primary in Brighton due to falling pupil numbers.

About 100 protesters staged a demo as two petitions went before the council.

Petitions over the closures were large enough to trigger a council debate.

Parents and teachers have said the two schools facing closure both cater for children with special educational needs, and "uprooting" pupils from safe settings with dedicated staff would be devastating.

Emily Brewer, a parent of children at St Peter's, said there was nowhere else to go

Councillor Jacob Taylor, co-chair of the council's children, families and school's committee, said: "More than one in five primary school places in the city is now empty.

"This means more and more of our schools are finding themselves in extreme financial difficulty, and without the resources needed to provide the support they would want to.

"St Peter's is one of the two primary schools in our city with the lowest number of pupils in the city. St Peter's and St Bartholomew's both have large financial deficits. In both cases there is no prospect pupil numbers will increase in future years. They are projected to fall further."

He said the total cost to the council of empty reception places was currently about £2m, adding: "We cannot allow this to continue."

Councillor Taylor said the council was committed to keeping as many schools open as possible and believed closing schools must only be a last resort, and reducing admissions numbers at some schools was a better option.

At the protest, Emily Brewer, a parent with two children at St Peter's school, said 38% of families who have children attending the school are on low income benefits, and 25% have English as a second language.

"All of this proposal has basically not accounted for the fact that there is nowhere to go," she said.

Consultation on the plans is due to end on 22 December and findings will go to the schools committee in January.

The schools could close by the end of the school year in August 2024.

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