Two out of three in city schools survey

They show an overwhelming response in favour of the proposals for Westfield School in Acomb and for Clifton schools, among the minority who replied.

But they show a complete mix of opinion in the most controversial consultation, covering Haxby and Wigginton.

This asked people about the possible closure of either Oaken Grove or Ralph Butterfield primary schools, and the results are to be considered by parents at a meeting in Haxby tonight.

They showed nine per cent of the 5,300 people who received consultation papers returned them.

Of these, 229 were parents at one of the four primary schools and 249 were other people in the community. Forty four per cent voted for the two options involving the closure of Oaken Grove.

Thirty-nine per cent voted to either keep it open or to close Ralph Butterfield and merge the two on the Oaken Grove site. Another eight per cent voted for merging the two on a new site.

A petition of 1,010 signatures was also sent in to support keeping Ralph Butterfield open.

Ruth Pearson, chairwoman of the Oaken Grove Parents Action Group, said they were holding a meeting for Oaken Grove parents tonight to consider the figures.

"We are going to consider how much support there is to take the campaign forward," she said.

"We want to know what people think about what the next steps may or may not be."

The results of the Clifton consultation showed three per cent of people responded to the consultation and of those 90 per cent agreed with the proposal to close Shipton Street Infant School and develop Kingsway Junior and Burton Green Infant Schools into primary schools.

In Acomb, six per cent of people responded and 79 per cent of those agreed with the idea of merging Westfield Infant and Westfield Junior Schools.

Councillors on the City of York's executive are to consider proposals in the three areas before the end of the autumn term.

The Oaken Grove meeting is at 7.30pm at the school.