Villagers’ plea to save Dales school with 7 pupils

commission into how rural communities can be safeguarded but residents have questioned whether it is “being true to its own commitments”.

One mother told the consultation: “People with young families who have been born and bred in this area already face a struggle to remain in the area they have grown up in and pay extortionate rents and mortgages for the privilege of doing so.”

Another stated: “The decision to close Clapham school would condemn the village to housing an ageing community with fewer children and young people as families of prospective residents look elsewhere for a home near a school for their children. Clapham would become a geriatric ghetto.”

A report to the executive says that funding deficits at the school are now expected to become much worse with the reduction in pupil numbers and that there was “no reasonable prospect of recovery”.

Numerous residents have pressed for changes to the council’s proposed new school catchment area to give parents more choice and cut travelling distances to ease the impact on the rural community.

But the council said to include the nearest school for some, Ingleton, in the revised catchment area would mean additional school transport costs to the £10,000 to £20,000 extra the authority was facing with the Clapham school’s closure.

Headteacher Matthew Atkinson has told the consultation that he cannot see a feasible future for the school. Councillor Patrick Mulligan, executive member for education, said the council was facing enormous challenges with the large number of small rural schools in the county and confirmed it does not have a plan of rural school closures.