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Row over school closure reversal Council in turmoil over schools
(about 4 hours later)
A decision by SNP councillors to reverse the closure of more than 20 school premises in Edinburgh has caused a political row. The leader of Edinburgh City Council has said her party could go it alone and form a minority administration after a coalition deal was breached.
Their Liberal Democrat coalition partners have described the move as a "breach of trust". SNP had been in partnership with the Liberal Democrats in the capital.
The Lib Dems want to hold urgent talks with the SNP to discuss the future leadership of the council. But Lib Dem council leader Jenny Dawe said the Nationalists breached the deal when they withdrew support for a radical programme of school closures.
Under the rejected plans 13 primaries, three secondary schools and six nurseries faced closure. The council had been planning to shut 22 nurseries, primaries and secondaries schools throughout the city.
We will be investigating a number of ways of securing the positive future that we envisage for the city Jenny DaweLiberal Democrats However those plans, which had sparked an angry reaction from some pupils and parents, were scrapped on Monday after the SNP group said they no longer backed them.
They did not inform us they were withdrawing their support from the programme Jenny DaweEdinburgh Council leader
The Liberal Democrats, who are the largest group on the council, held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation on Monday night.
Ms Dawe told BBC Scotland that forming a minority administration was a possibility.
The Liberal Democrat councillor said: "That is obviously an option."
Ms Dawe added there had been "shock and disappointment" amongst Lib Dems over the actions of the SNP.
"They did not inform us they were withdrawing their support from the programme," she said.
"Up until a few days before that we had their full support.
"Everybody knew it was going to be an extremely difficult exercise that we were embarking on, but we had not even started the formal part of the consultation."
The school closure plans affected 14,000 children
She said: "Up until now the coalition has worked, I think, very well.
"This was a breach of the agreement we had."
Council leaders had argued that shutting schools would address the problem of falling school rolls and would also save £9m in running costs over the next three years.
Ms Dawe said: "It may well be that what we now have to do is to look again at how we get over the fact that the education of the children in our city could be better, there are many children who are in schools that are below 60% occupancy, some below 30% occupancy.
"Clearly it's not an issue that's going to go away."
Consultation process
Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary and SNP MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, said: "I fully support the SNP group, this is the correct decision.
"It is quite clear they realised that the information about schools was inappropriate and wrong and that they have listened to the community, which was deeply aggrieved."
Labour, which controlled the council until the elections in May, had looked at shutting a raft of schools.Labour, which controlled the council until the elections in May, had looked at shutting a raft of schools.
The council's balance of power shifted after the election when Labour were reduced from 30 to 15 councillors.The council's balance of power shifted after the election when Labour were reduced from 30 to 15 councillors.
Liberal Democrat councillors won 17 seats while SNP gained 12, the Conservatives 11 and the Greens three.Liberal Democrat councillors won 17 seats while SNP gained 12, the Conservatives 11 and the Greens three.
When the Lib Dem/SNP coalition took over it said action could not be delayed any longer. A report will now go before the next full council meeting later this month to terminate the consultation process formally.
It said the education department was £14m in the red and that it made no sense to keep open half empty schools.
Parents reacted furiously to the plan, which affects 14,000 children.
On Sunday night SNP MSPS had a hastily convened meeting with their counterparts on the council.
SNP councillors withdrew their critical support for the plan.
Lib Dem leader of the council Jenny Dawe said the SNP had breached the coalition agreement.
'Excellent services'
She added: "We will be investigating a number of ways of securing the positive future that we envisage for the city.
"If the SNP want to be a part of that then they have a lot of work to do to restore the trust that we previously had.
"Of course, the Liberal Democrat Group's top priority is to provide excellent services for the people of Edinburgh and we are committed to working in their best interests."
SNP members said they wanted to go "back to the drawing board".
The threat to some of the capital's schools is likely to resurface but not until at least 2008.
Steve Cardownie, the SNP group leader on the council and deputy leader of the authority, said too many schools had been named.