Call to extend consultation over schools

The school is due to convert into an academy.

A consultation over the future of two Leeds schools at the heart of the city's '˜black hole' debate should be extended to give people more time, a council watchdog has said.

The consultation on the plans, which would see Moor Allerton Hall Primary School closed to create an expanded Allerton Grange Through School with a doubled primary intake, is due to close at the end of November. Now, councillors on the Children and Families scrutiny board at Leeds City Council say parents haven’t been able to comment on a critical piece of information, the Ofsted rating of Allerton Grange.

The scrutiny board, after a proposal from Coun Dan Cohen, has made a recommendation to council leaders that the consultation be extended until the publication of the latest Ofsted rating.

Coun Dan Cohen said: “These are hugely significant proposals for the future of school places in North Leeds, so it’s only right that local people have access to all the relevant information before coming to a view. It would be outrageous to conclude a consultation without this information being in the public domain.”

The school proposals are the council’s response to the need to provide more school places in North Leeds, in light of the school places ‘black hole’ that emerged in April 2015.