Disgruntled supporters confronted Cumbria's School Organisation Committee this week about claims that its voting procedure which decided the fate of Lowick C of E School was "grossly abused".

Ahead of the committee meeting on Monday, campaigners at the 21-pupil school sent letters to each of the 15 members - who voted to close the school only two weeks ago - calling for the decision to be overturned and for the future of the school sent to an adjudicator in London to decide.

Campaigners also protested by standing outside the County Hall offices, in Kendal, holding up posters which said: "Danger, SOC meeting. Schools Beware. Not Independent, Not Unbiased."

The move follows a demand by the school for a public inquiry after it emerged that at the last meeting of the School Organisation Committee on Monday, January 27, a last-minute change of vote by a member of the Local Education Authority Group, Cumbria county councillor Bob Edgar (Cons), sealed the fate of the school.

Coun Edgar first voted to keep the school open but, after speaking to the leader of Cumbria County Council Rex Toft, he changed his mind and voted to close Lowick.

If he had not changed his vote, the committee would not have had a unanimous decision and the future of the school would have had to have been referred to an adjudicator in Whitehall.

Coun Toft has since refuted the allegations that there was anything untoward in the events leading up to Coun Edgar's change of vote.

When the letters about the change of vote were not discussed on Monday, the chairman of Lowick Parish Council, Liz Vaughan, shouted from the public gallery that the school had "concerns" about the constitution of the group and asked for it to be reviewed. She also asked if the details of the letters would be discussed by the committee at a future meeting.

The item had not been included on the agenda, which meant the committee could not debate the issue. Chairman of the School Organisation Committee, the Rev Canon Rex Chapman, told campaigners that members would not be discussing the issue at all.

Coun Vaughan said after the meeting: "It is a disgraceful day for democracy."

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Collins has backed the school's call for a public inquiry and has written to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills Charles Clarke asking him to look into the closure.

Campaigners at the school are also planning to write to Mr Clarke about the whole process of how it was decided to close the school, which they claim has been "unfair from the outset."

February 13, 2003 16:30