Ex-pupil vows to fight on after school closure decision

After the battle to save Buerton Primary School was lost when Cheshire's Independent Schools Organisation Committee made the final ruling last week to close the school, one ex-pupil has vowed to fight on and has raised the question of who actually owns the school building.

Joseph Bloor, an ex-pupil who now lives in London, says he is to contest the ownership of the school building based on evidence dating from 1871 Documents held in Cheshire County Records Office. These indicate that

the land and buildings were bought and paid for by Donations

(Subscriptions and Fundraising) by the local people of Buerton and

Audlem.

Subsequent documents, such as the school log book, show that in 1903 the

Trustees passed on the "Maintenance" of the school to the County

specifically for "Educational Purposes", but Joseph believes, and land

registry policy will prove to be crucial evidence here, that the land

or buildings never changed hands. He believes the land and building was registered incorrectly in 2004 following an application by the council. This, Joseph says, is surprisingly recent and handily co-incided with the 'Transforming Learning Communities'

programme which was one of the prime drivers behind the closure. He is investigating this in more detail, and a number of other issues, in an effort to ensure the building remains part of the Buerton community.

Falling birth rates and surplus places have been blamed for the closure decision by the County, but campaigners say it is a devastating blow to pupils and the village community which used the school as a meeting place. Buerton campaigners won backing from local MP Stephen O'Brien and a body protecting small schools. But the 53-place school saw numbers drop to 13 as uncertainty over its future heightened.

"It's a sad end," said chairman of the governors, Janet Furber. "We did the best we could but the reality of the situation took over." The school will close at Christmas to which one parent said: "Closing the school is bad enough but at Christmas? That's just heartless."

This week's Chronicle carries the school closure story but Joseph Bloor's decision to fight on was sent directly to Audlem Online. More on this as news comes through.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.