Leeds City Council leaders are to decide next week whether to progress the proposal.
Leeds City Council started a four-week consultation in September on plans to shut Queensway Primary in Yeadon due to a low intakeLeeds City Council started a four-week consultation in September on plans to shut Queensway Primary in Yeadon due to a low intake.Jonathan Pryor, executive member for education, told a full council meeting the school's budget had shrunk by £1.7m since 2010.
He said that neighbouring schools had declined to reduce their own intake of pupils to keep Queensway open and that councils no longer had powers to force schools to do so, while under the current funding system schools were paid a set amount per pupil they teach.Addressing opposition councillors directly, he said: "We talk in here about austerity. This is the effect of austerity. We're not making it up or just saying it for political reasons.
"But it's important to be clear that no decision has been made and so I'm not in a position to talk about some things, because that may pre-empt the decision." The school has a higher than average number of pupils with additional needs and from deprived backgrounds, and councillors had earlier applauded a group of parents who spoke emotionally about the "undue anxiety" the process had caused.
Around 40 pupils had already been taken out of the school by their parents since the idea first came to light, theConservative councillor Dan Cohen told the meeting: "I can only imagine the sledgehammer of horror this council has hit parents with, with the suggestion of closing this school.The council's senior leadership team is set to decide next week whether to progress the proposal, which would see a second consultation take place after Christmas.
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