PUPILS, parents and staff at 16 closure-threatened schools will have to wait three months longer to find out their fate.
The controversial plans – called Transforming Our Primary Schools (Tops) – were due to go to South Tyneside Council's Cabinet meeting this month following a two-month consultation period.
But the report will go to Cabinet in late May instead, givi
ng education bosses longer to look at further proposals brought up during consultation.
The Tops plans aim to slash 2,000 surplus places by merging or closing schools across the borough, which will see up to £1m saved and ploughed back into education.
It also means if spare places can be reduced, South Tyneside's schools could receive up to £30m in capital grants from the Government over the next decade.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families has also given education chiefs breathing space after moving the deadline for the submission of capital funding applications to the end of June.
Under the current proposals Boldon C of E and St Bede's RC primary schools will close altogether while the others will close and amalgamate under new names.
Mike Dillon, acting executive director for children and young people, said: "This provides an opportunity for the local authority to give fuller consideration to the range of issues and ideas emerging from the public consultations, including responses from the Church of England and Roman Catholic Dioceses.
"There have also been a number of other related developments that would benefit from a longer period of preparation for the final recommendations.
"A number of comments were received about the siting of some of the proposals and we want to carry out feasibility studies on the range of options to ensure we have taken best expert advice before making final recommendations to Cabinet."
He added: "In addition, we have had more precise information about the scale and timing of the release of funding available through the Primary Capital Programme.
"This is good news, but we need to give careful thought as to how best to phase the various proposed building works to ensure they fit inside the available capital budget year by year."
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