TOWN Hall bosses at Warrington are to press ahead with the controversial closure of Longbarn Primary School.
Members of the borough council’s executive board voted 8-1 in favour of proceeding to issue statutory notice of closure of the school.
This means a formal notice will be published tomorrow (Thursday), followed by a six week period for statutory representations to be made, ending on November 5.
Any representations received will then be considered, discussed again by the board on December 21 and a final decision then made.
The lone councillor to vote against going ahead with the closure was Coun Sharon Wilson (pictured).
Council leader Ian Marks said: “She was quite entitled to oppose the closure. The school is on her patch and she has consistently campaigned on behalf of her constituents.”
The board considered the closure a second time after their original decision was “called in” by scrutiny chiefs and referred back for further consideration.
Coun Marks said the scrutiny process had proved valuable as it had led to the clarification of several points.
Further representations were made by the school but the board decided to stick with the original closure decision.
Closure was originally approved by a vote of 8-2 but one of the opponents, Coun Bob Timmis, was absent at the second meeting.
If the decision to close is again upheld in December, the school will close from August 31 next year.
