EDUCATION chiefs were today told to act to end the costly waste of schools with empty desks.
New figures showed that Lancashire has 10,813 surplus primary school places (eight per cent of the total) and 8,277 surplus secondary school places (ten per cent of the total).
There are 66 primary schools and 14 secondaries with more than a quarter of their desks empty.
School standards minister Stephen Byers today signalled a tough new approach.
He is focusing on schools with more than 25% spare capacity and asking education chiefs to consider why they should not be closed, or merged.
Mr Byers said: "Surplus school places represent a poor use of resources, particularly where schools with surplus places are performing poorly, or where parental preference is not being met elsewhere."
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article