Secret school closure deal claims

Feb 5 2009 By Barry Gibson

COUNCILLORS concocted a secret deal that would have shut down Castle Hall School in Mirfield, a top politician claimed last night.

Conservative Clr Robert Light, who was ousted as Kirklees Council leader last month, claims Labour and the Lib Dems offered him a chance to stay in control.

The Tory Cabinet was toppled over its £200m schools plan for north Kirklees.

But Clr Light claimed yesterday that he was offered a secret deal to keep power.

He said: "In November, Labour and the Lib Dems came to us and said they would support our administration if we agreed to a plan that included closing Castle Hall and Thornhill High, scrapping our plan for a new high school in Birkenshaw and agreeing to end single-sex schooling in Batley.

"People will be outraged to learn of how Labour and the Lib Dems tried to blackmail the Conservative administration with these proposals."

Clr Light called on Labour and the Lib Dems, who now rule Kirklees in a council headed by Labour’s Mehboob Khan, to come clean about the plan.

He said: "They haven’t got the guts to stand up and say that this is what they believe in.

"They are dithering on this issue and appear completely clueless."

But the new cabinet member for schools Clr John Smithson denied that the Lib Dems and Labour had come up with the plan which included closing Castle Hall and Thornhill High.