AN MP has backed calls for a tiny village school to be saved after speaking to campaigners at a public meeting.

Parents are protesting against the proposed closure of Tosside Primary School in Gisburn Forest.

A question mark hangs over its future after cuts in government funding for schools with small numbers of children.

The number of pupils at the school, which recently received a glowing report from government inspectors, has dropped from 26 to nine in eight years.

County councillors gave the go-ahead for a consultation exercise into the future of the tiny school on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border in Ribble Valley, earlier this year.

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans pledged his support to the campaign at a public meeting staged at Tosside Village Institute.

He said he would be giving his full backing to keeping the school open for many more years.

He said: "The threat by the Lancashire Education Authority to close the school is impractical, unfair and potentially disastrous for the Tosside community.

"There is no doubt whatsoever that Tosside villagers want the school to stay open. It provides a valuable resource to the community and this fight is about more than economics. It is about giving support and understanding to rural areas."

The findings of the consultation exercise are expected in September.

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