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."

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