Governors at Eskdale School announced earlier this year that they planned to close the school at the end of this academic year due to it being undersubscribed.

All pupils currently attending the school, as well as current Year Six students who wanted to attend from September, will instead go to Caedmon College, the town’s other secondary school.

Parents at Eskdale have mounted a campaign against the proposed closure, and a public consultation launched by North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) closes on Friday.

Governors at Eskdale School announced earlier this year that they planned to close the school at the end of this academic year due to it being undersubscribed.

But Whitby Town Mayor Linda Wild accused NYCC officers of having a “closed mind” towards the consultation following a public meeting on March 8.

She said: “At the council meeting, we saw, first hand, the angst of parents who rightly feel that the school and the county council have shown a lack of regard and a lack of response to their legitimate concerns about the speed of this process and the apparent closed minds that they have been met with.

"Parents are unhappy, the wider community is concerned and the town council is disappointed by the lack of accountability and proper engagement with Whitby people throughout this hollow consultation.”

The Town Council is calling on NYCC to carry out a full, systemic and independent review of education provision in Whitby to ensure that the current and future needs of the Whitby area are properly understood and provided for, it said.

Whitby mayor hits out at plans to close seaside town secondary school