Queensway Primary School Yeadon: Leeds councillor backs calls for her own party to apologise over handing of possible closure

Campaigners linked to Queensway Primary School in Yeadon are fighting against the Labour-run city council’s plans to shut it, amid a shortage of school-aged children in the area. Councillor Eleanor Thomson, who represents Guiseley and Rawdon for Labour, said she’d backed a motion condemning the plans after governors and parents railed against the proposals at a community committee on Monday.

The move puts her at odds with the line taken by her party’s administration. The motion, which was put forward by opposition Conservative and Liberal Democrats at Monday’s meeting called on the consultation over the school’s closure to be withdrawn, until concerns raised by parents and governors had been answered.

It also called for Councillor Jonathan Pryor, the authority’s deputy leader and executive member for education, to apologise for the council’s handling of the process, which has come under fire. Explaining her decision to back the motion after the meeting, Councillor Thomson said: “I want the school and the governors to know I’ve listened to them.

"I want to do the best I can for the people I represent and to speak up for the most vulnerable in our community. I see both sides of the argument but I don’t want this to become a political football. I’ve listened to the community, I’ve thought very carefully and I’ve gone with my conscience.”

Parents and governors made emotional pleas to a cross-party group of councillors from Guiseley, Rawdon Otley, Yeadon, Horsforth, Adel and Wharfedale at a committee meeting on Monday. One mum of two children at Queensway fought back tears as she told how she’d have to reluctantly home educate them, because she believes no other local school can meet their needs.

Governors at the school also claimed the council’s handling of the process had been “incompetent”, with 40 pupils having been pulled out of Queensway by their parents since the proposals were announced. Tory councillor for Adel and Wharfedale, Barry Anderson, who put forward the motion, claimed the proposed closure had been done for “political reasons”.

Otley and Yeadon councillor Colin Campbell suggest the process had “lacked compassion and understanding” for parents’ views. He was also critical of the lack of notice the school’s governors say they were given about the plans.

Councillor Campbell added: “Anybody with an ounce of common sense would know there’s a process to go through when You’re bearing bad news. For reasons I can’t quite understand that wasn’t followed.

“I think we need to say we have concerns in relation to the way (council) officers have dealt with this, because it doesn’t give a lot of confidence that they were 100 per cent sure they knew what they were doing.”

Responding to the issues raised on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the council said: “Due to a significant and continued fall in the number of children being born in Guiseley and Yeadon, primary schools in this area are now facing continued lower demand for places. In order for the schools to remain financially stable and continue to meet the learning needs of their children, there needs to be a reduction in the number of available places.

“We have explored alternative options to reduce the number of school places in the area, but unfortunately the only way we can manage numbers is to consider the closure of a maintained school. Over the last few years, there has been a decline in families in the area preferencing Queensway Primary School, and there are currently a high number of surplus places at the school.”

The council said that feedback received during the consultation had been “highly valuable” and said if the school does close it will “work closely” with leaders and other schools in the area to “ensure continued support for local families”. A further debate on Queensway’s future will take place at a full council meeting in Civic Hall on Wednesday.