Academy consultation begins
Consultation into the closure of Unity College in Northampton will now go ahead after a scrutiny committee decided alternative options to academy status had been considered.
Councillor Joan Kirkbride (Con, Bugbrooke), who is Northamptonshire County Council's cabinet member for children and young people, chose to begin the statutory process of closing the school at a meeting held on Wednesday January 28.
But this decision was called in for scrutiny by a group of ten councillors after they raised concerns about a report, agreed by Councillor Kirkbride, which indicated no alternative options to the academy proposal had been considered.
The county council's constitution states all decisions must be based on a "realistic evaluation of all alternatives" and therefore, they argued, the report of the decision was in breach of article 13.
Speaking at the meeting, Councillor Brian Hoare (Lib Dem, Abington), one of the councillors who called in the decision to start the statutory process, said: "To justify this decision it needs to be done so that the public can understand.
"How can they do that effectively if there is no evidence presented on paper into what other alternatives were considered?
"It is not right for us as an organisation to say 'don't worry we did it behind closed doors, have faith in us, we did it properly'."
After being asked to address the meeting, Councillor Kirkbride admitted that the reference in the report was incorrect.
But she added it was a "technical matter" and that a realistic evaluation of all the alternatives to academy status had been carried out.
She said: "This decision was not taken in isolation.
"The council report was erroneously drafted, alternative options were given consideration."
The scrutiny committee voted seven to three in favour of upholding Councillor Kirkbride's decision.
Therefore a six-week period of consultation that could end with the school reopening as an academy in September can now begin.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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