FIVE primary schools in Burnley could close because falling birth rates have slashed pupil numbers, says Lancashire county schools boss Councillor Tony Martin.

Coun Martin, chairman of the county schools and general purposes committee said the town had 3,000 empty houses, which equated to 1,000 fewer children.

And that meant five primary schools could go, he said, with a knock-on effect on secondary schools in the town.

Coun Martin's committee has agreed to hold preliminary talks with governors of Myrtle Bank and Wood Top infants and half-empty Hargher Clough junior school, all in Burnley - discussions which could lead to amalgamation.

One possibility is for the three old schools - all in the council estate dominated West End of Burnley - to close and be replaced by a purpose-built new centre.

Coun Martin, of Burnley, said there were several options to be discussed and he hoped governors would come forward with an agreed approach which could be studied in detail before final decisions are made.

He said falling pupil numbers were a problem throughout Burnley and a full town-wide review would be undertaken this year.

Myrtle Bank, Wood Top and Hargher Clough were being targeted now because falling birth rates in the two wards concerned meant the overall 28 per cent decline in expected primary age groups in the next few years was twice that of Burnley as a whole.

Coun Martin said two of the schools would be without headmasters and this also provided a window of opportunity to address the problems.

He said the education authority could be faced with the silly situation this year of appointing a new head at Wood Top, while declaring teacher redundancies because of falling pupil numbers.

A report to county councillors shows that Myrtle Bank is more than half empty with just 83 kiddies taking the 172 available places.

The 178-pupil Hargher Clough school has 40 empty desks and is receiving extra county support following comments in an Ofsted inspection, says the report.

Myrtle Bank, it adds, will be without a headteacher from September and is currently overstaffed.

The report adds that none of the three schools are included in the bid for multi-million pounds support under the Education Action Zone for Burnley, which could bring in m millions of pounds of extra development cash for Burnley primaries.

Coun Martin said the problems of falling school rolls were getting more severe and population trends were distorting, with major new home building and growth taking place in Whittlefield, where there were few schools.

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