Sarah strongly rejects return of the threat of school closures

1.27.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 6th Jul 2009

Sarah Carr, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Hereford and South Herefordshire, today strongly rejected the return of the threat of school closures which appear to be back on the agenda as a result of further Herefordshire Council analysis.

After last year's massive outcry at the proposed closure and merger of over 30 Herefordshire schools, Herefordshire Council commissioned a follow up report into the issue which appears to conclude that future closures are inevitable. The Herefordshire Schools Forum is due to meet on Tuesday 7th July to discuss the report's findings.

Sarah Carr commenting said:

"Only a year ago more than 5000 local people campaigned on the streets against the Conservative run Herefordshire Council's schools closure programme. Now we see that the threat of closures never really went away, but was only deferred. Their cynical intention has been to close schools all along.

"Government funding of Herefordshire schools is low compared to the average but one has to ask what Herefordshire Council has been doing to advance this cause through the F40 organisation of poorly funded local authorities."

"Herefordshire's small schools are vital to sustaining the local communities they operate in. If they are closed, pupils risk longer journeys to schools and existing staff will be at risk of redundancy. Closing schools at the heart of our local communities is not the right answer.

"Combined with recent stories that the Conservatives nationally are looking to make cuts of up to 10% in the national schools budget, it is increasingly clear that the Tories cannot be trusted with our children's education.

"The closing of popular schools must be an absolute last resort, and I will be fighting them absolutely every inch of the way."