UP TO 150 schools in Merseyside and Cheshire are threatened with closure because they do not have enough pupils, it was revealed last night.
The Department for Education has placed 136 primaries and 14 secondaries on a "danger list" because more than a quarter of classroom seats are unfilled.
Now schools minister David Miliband will put local education authorities under pressure to close or merge schools with the highest number of surplus places. Schools which are "performing badly" are at greatest risk.
But the Government will also consider proposals for "extended schooling" by encouraging groups to use empty classrooms.
In Merseyside, Liverpool has the highest number of "at risk" schools, with 24 primaries and two secondaries at least 25% unfilled.
The city council has already tackled the issue - brought about by a declining birth rate - with a number of closures and mergers. Knowsley (19 primaries, two secondaries), Sefton (16 primaries, one secondary) and Wirral (17 primary, no secondaries) also have high totals.
And Cheshire has more schools on the danger list, with 40 primaries and seven secondaries.
The biggest problem is faced by Knowsley with 32% of primaries and 18% of secondaries at risk.
The borough has already published a £250m schools rebuilding programme which would see 10 schools amalgamated into five over the next few years.
The survey, the first by the Department for Education for two years, found there were 2,146 primaries and 270 secondaries in England with at least a quarter of surplus places.
In a written statement to MPs, Mr Miliband said education authorities would not be ordered to close schools and no target date had been set to cut surpluses.
Ron Rampling, Liverpool's principal education officer, said only one city school - Cross Farm, Netherley - was proposed for closure.
The LEA hoped to use surplus space "creatively" by setting aside rooms for parents and music groups, for example.
