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| Macdonald urges Council not to break the law |
Macdonald urges Council not to break the law
Aberdeen Central MSP Lewis Macdonald has today urged Aberdeen City Council not to break the law by implementing the closure of Hilton Nursery School, without first referring it to Ministers for final decision.
Lewis Macdonald said:
`The law says that the Council cannot close a school without the consent of Ministers, if that school is over 80% full.
`Hilton Nursery School had 67 pupils last session, and a total capacity of 80 children. The Council should have referred its proposal for closure to Ministers, but they did not. They claimed they could discount children who attended part-time, but there is no legal basis for so doing.
`I spoke last week to parents and relatives of children at Hilton, when they held a family fun day at the end of the school term. They asked me to continue the fight to keep their school open.
`I have already raised this issue with Ministers, and I await a reply from Schools Minister Maureen Watt, I have written today to the Chief Executive of Aberdeen City Council, Douglas Paterson, and formally requested that he suspend the closure process, reopen Hilton Nursery School for 2008/09, and refer the proposed closure to Ministers.
`I hope the Council will do that. If they do not, they may find they have broken the law. I am certain that the families of Hilton pupils will want to take their case elsewhere if the Council do not respond, for example to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. The law exists to protect the rights of children and parents, and the Council needs to respect those rights.`
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