PUPILS at Affetside Primary School are victims of a miscarriage of justice, according to angry parents fighting to keep the village school open.

The damning accusation was made following a meeting of the lifelong learning scrutiny and review panel on Wednesday (April 24) evening to discuss controversial proposals to close Affetside Primary and merge other schools to address the problem of falling pupil roles.

Now the Save Affetside School Action Group (SASAG) is taking legal action in a bid to have the proposal thrown out.

Following a two-hour discussion on the village school, which has 48 pupils, the panel voted by a small majority to accept the recommendation of the executive committee (the council's decision-making body) to close the school.

Mr David Baker, a member of the SASAG, said after the meeting: "I am shell shocked. The panel did not answer any of the questions we had put forward.

"I didn't expect them to reply to every one of our 61 questions but they could have made a recommendation to defer a decision until those questions had been answered.

"This is a miscarriage of justice."

Mr Baker, who has one child at the school and another due to start in September, said the decision to close Affetside was based on pupil figures and cost, which the SASAG dispute.

"Panel members seemed unsure about what they were voting on and cast a vote regardless of whether questions had been answered or not. Both myself and the headteacher of the school were confused as to what had actually happened," said Mr Baker.

He added: "The panel made recommendations for the executive committee to consider with regard to other schools, but none whatsoever for Affetside."

However, Coun Steve Perkins, executive member for lifelong learning disagreed. He said: "We spent more than two hours discussing it and have responded to public questions. Under the old system this process would have done and dusted. There has been twice as much debate."

The lifelong learning and scrutiny review panel also accepted the executive committee's proposal to merge Fishpool Infants and St Chad's CE Junior schools subject to a physical link being established. The panel also accepted the decision to unify Radcliffe Infants and Radcliffe Junior, also on the condition that the schools are in some way physically linked.

The scrutinyreview panel were meeting last night (Thurs April 25)) to discuss proposals to close St Paul's CE Primary, Ramsbottom, and move pupils to St Andrew's CE Primary Ramsbottom. Also on the agenda was the closure of both St John's CE Primary and St Mark's CE Primary and the creation of a new school on the St John's site.

The matter of closures and mergers will now be referred back to the executive committee which will rule on the proposals, following which the public can lodge objections and make comments before a final decision is reached by the Schools Organisation Committee.