Stoney letters held up by terror checks

Written by Richard Woolley and published in Matlock Mercury on Thu 9th Nov 2006

AROUND 9,000 letters protesting against a school closure had to sit unopened for a week at County Hall - because the council needed to screen them for terror threats.

Notes from campaigners fighting to keep Stoney Middleton School open, were hand-delivered and so had not been through Royal Mail's checking system, Derbyshire County Councillor Alan Charles revealed last Thursday night.

The county education boss chaired a public meeting with residents of Stoney Middleton to discuss closing the village school due to falling numbers and difficulty attracting a headteacher.

But angry members of the public said the move would kill the village.

They also hit out at Derbyshire County Council literature saying the school had twice tried to recruit a head, when the post had been advertised only once.

Cllr Charles acknowledged the mistake, but council officers told the meeting the cost of educating each child at the school was more than double the county average, and that pupil numbers, currently at less than half capacity, were predicted to continue falling.

They added that small classes of mixed-age pupils were not providing the best education and social integration for pupils.

Former headteacher at the school, Beth Ely, said: "If you move the children from here to Curbar they are full to capacity plus."

Cllr Charles replied that Curbar School's numbers were also predicted to fall.

MP Patrick McLoughlin said: "Have you taken into account the terrible road situation that these children will face?

"You keep saying you care - show us you do by keeping the school open."

He added that the meeting's turnout, along with the letters, should demonstrate the opposition to closure.

But Cllr Charles said: "Any hand-delivered letters have to be screened before they can be opened.

"In the age that we live in we can't guarantee someone won't put something in a letter to us."

He added that road safety assessments of walking routes would form part of any decision taken.

The letters have since been opened and forwarded to the relevant departments.

Story by Richard Woolley

To comment email richard.woolley@matlockmercury.co.uk

08 November 2006