Depriving children of education

It's all very well for councillors to moan about school closures, but we must remember that it was councillors who closed down the Oakley Travellers Site, from where several children attended the local school, thus fastening the day when it is shut on roll numbers.

The whole community, not just the travellers, whose children are deprived of an education due to the action of the councillors, must now suffer the consequences if it closes.

Voters should remember this when the next election comes round.

Who was responsible for the closures? And who stands to benefit from the sale of redundant schools?

Who owns the prime development sites in villages, worth perhaps £1 million or more, some elected by public subscription? Old schools are worth a fortune today, as houses for rich commuters.

Have a look at the prices asked by agents in the press, and think of what the real motive behind closures might be.

It is a scandal that they are to be closed just before a new housing development or a traveller caravan site could send numbers of children soaring up again.

But then, most councillors would sooner the schools close than have traveller children (and their extra teachers) attending, or so I was told by one such "representative" of the people.

That's prejudice for you.

W F Kerswell, Picklescott