Michael Lilley, the Isle of Wight Liberal Democrat councillor for Ryde Appley and Elmfield, has put forward a motion for next week’s Extraordinary Full Council meeting, calling for proposals to close five primary schools to be withdrawn, pending the new committee system and reveals that up to ten schools could be closed to address surplus places.
Councillor Lilley has told OnTheWight that he, along with his LibDem colleagues, is concerned about whether there has been fair and reasonable process, and points to a lack of criteria which has been highlighted by school headteachers, staff, parents, as well as key stakeholders, such as Portsmouth CofE Diocese.
Lilley: Withdraw the report
The LibDem councillors feel the current report fails to enable a fair and reasonable decision be made by Cabinet and Councillors, and “the fairest option is to withdraw the report”.
The motion, which goes before the Extraordinary Full Council next week, reads:
“IW Council recommends to Cabinet that the current school place plan is withdrawn until new agreed criteria and methodology is developed under the new committee system from May 2025.”
Councillor Lilley says,
“I totally support the Cabinet’s endeavours to tackle the Isle of Wight’s School Place Plan issue and feel there are many positives that have come from the consultation process.
“However, there are questions raised in the overall process and criteria that need addressing and I believe if there are any doubts in the process and unanswered questions, we are in danger with the current report in front of Cabinet of being possibly faced with the process being not fair, reasonable and lawful.”
Up to ten schools could be closed
Councillor Lilley also added that the closure of five schools is the start of possibly up to ten schools being closed to address surplus places. He said,
“We also know there is a possible need to actually close ten schools, not the five that were agreed by Cabinet for notice of closure on 10th December 2024, and the current report is, in reality, a first stage.
“We know by the reaction of the schools involved and other stakeholders such as Portsmouth CofE Diocese that the process has caused disagreement and distress for all involved.”
Councillor Lilley told OnTheWight that,
“The report should be looking at all schools and having a robust criteria in place which fairly identifies the schools to close and any possible alternative strategies that could tackle the school place plan issue.”
He went on to add that many important lessons can be learnt from the consultation process, including positives and negatives. He stressed the need to “get it right” and highlighted an opportunity with the agreed change of governance in May 2025 to a committee system, to engage and involve all stakeholders to a collective agreed decision.
Other motion
The agenda for the Extraordinary Full Council meeting also shows a motion from Councillor Geoff Brodie (Ind Labour), the IW councillor for Pan and Barton.
His motion asks the council to recognise that the votes taken on the 29th January will be purely part of the current consultation and will not bind Cabinet when it makes its final decision on Thursday, 6th March 2025.
