A GOVERNOR has slammed Cheshire County Council, claiming it is using 'out-of-date' figures in trying to justify school closures.

Steve Boxall, a parent governor at Dunham Hill Primary School, has sent a dossier to education chiefs including more recent statistics which he says prove the authority is wrong.

The council is proposing to close Dunham Hill and Frod-sham High School, while mergers would unite Alvanley Primary School with Manley Village School and Kingsley St John's CoE Primary School with Norley CoE Primary School.

It says the Transforming Learning Communities (TLC) programme is necessary to tackle surplus school places caused by a falling birthrate.

But Mr Boxall's dossier, backed by Weaver Vale MP Mike Hall, includes Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures showing a rising birth-rate in Vale Royal since 2002.

In 2002, there were 1,274 births, compared to 1,293 in 2003 and 1,426 in 2004.

Mr Boxall says the council's Cheshire Population Report 2004 bases its forecasts of falling pupil numbers on ONS statistics from 1991-2001.

The county predicts the number of primary school pupils in the Frodsham and Helsby area will fall from 1,884 this year to 1,668 by 2010.

Using the actual 2002-04 figures Mr Boxall has calculated the number of primary school pupils would increase from 1,884 to 1,984 by 2008.

He said: 'I'm appalled. They should have checked they were using the latest data.

'This is just negligent and the council could end up with egg on its face in a few years time if there are not enough schools.

'They have wasted £500,000 on the appointment of a director of children's services who only worked a week and have now wasted more on out of date forecasts.

'There needs to be a full re-view of all the TLC figures and proposals.'

A Cheshire County Council spokeswoman said Mr Boxall's comments referred to methodology used to calculate population forecasts at county and district level.

She said: 'The population fore-casts are 2001 based and use information that was available to us at the time of forecasting.

'A different method was used to calculate pupil forecasts at school level.'

The council points to a county-wide decrease in the number of females aged 16-44 from 133,800 in 1991 to 128,100 in 2001, forecasting the number will plummet to 107,500 by 2021.

It used a 'moderately decreasing' fertility rate in producing its forecasts, saying the ONS has admitted it 'is too early' to say whether rates will continue to increase.

And it adds that the number of births in 2004 remained below that in each year of the 1990s. rob.devey@cheshirenews.co.uk

Commons told of staff 'gagging' claims

CLAIMS that Cheshire County Council is 'gagging' staff at closure-threatened schools have gone to the House of Commons.

Education chiefs last week denied allegations by Weaver Vale MP Mike Hall that heads and teachers have been warned they will face gross misconduct charges should they speak out.

Mr Hall told a Business Questions session chaired by Leader of the House, Geoff Hoon, the gag was an infringement of 'their democratic rights and surely confronts their civil rights'.

He called for the tabling of an urgent debate in the Commons to discuss the issue.

But Mr Hoon said although it was 'an important issue' he could not promise a debate.

'It is part of a process of ensuring we have the right size schools in the right places to deal with the population but it is a process that sometimes does cause difficulties in local communities,' Mr Hoon added. 'It's something that we have to keep under review.'

Mr Hall said the Government has had no control over school closures since 1999.

But he will still press ahead in writing to Speaker of the House Michael Martin asking for an 'adjournment debate'.

If granted, the debate could take place within the next fortnight and would end with a government minister responding on the issue.