IT IS hardly surprising that, at their first consultation meeting with parents of one of the four special schools threatened with closure under town-hall cash-saving proposals, Blackburn with Darwen councillors should run straight into a hail of flak.

For it is not just that these schools are doing a marvellous job and are much-cherished institutions, the Council has fast earned a reputation for its "consultation" being a cosmetic cover for cut-and-dried plans.

It earned this mistrust over the closure of old folks' homes - after previous pledges that none would.

And, on the review of special schools, it has added to it by already saying which of the options for the future it prefers despite all supposedly being the subject of consultation.

The Council could come badly unstuck over this review - and despite pledges that the decisions will be in the best interest of pupils, it needs to heed the mistrust of its consultation exercise and improve if it is not to come a cropper.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.