Parents and children take part in the Buggy protestPARENTS campaigning to save Shortwood Infants School from closure have vowed to fight on even after the public consultation has ended.
Surrey County Council announced in February that they plan to close the school in Stanwell New Road, and on Friday the public consultation ended.
On the same day a number of parents held a buggy protest outside the school, and they have now said they will keep on fighting until the end.
Ian Winter, chair of the governors, said: “I think the council are hoping this campaign will all go away and everyone will lose interest. I used to work for a local authority and these kinds of tactics were used. We have a lot more campaigns planned for the future, such as presenting a case at 10 Downing Street in April.”
Due to rainy weather on Friday, not all the mothers with their push chairs could make the protest, but the organisers have still deemed it a success.
Around 35 people showed up, including six mothers with their prams, who started to march outside the school from 3.15pm, across the busy A30 and into Staines town centre.
Mr Winter said: “We wanted to show how dangerous it will be for parents who do not drive, because they will have to cross the A30 everyday.
“There is also very little private transport in the area, so each day the mothers would have to cross busy roads to get their children to another school. We have proof of how dangerous they are because a mother had her buggy clipped by a car a while back, and a 12-year-old girl was seriously injured in a near fatal accident on the A30 a few weeks ago.”
Jo Buckingham, a member of the Save Shortwood Committee, said: “I drive my children to school so I have never crossed the A30, but I must say, it was terrifying on Friday. The cars go by so quickly, and when you do cross the road, the pavements are very narrow.
“By the time we got to Staines town centre, some of the children were exhausted. Do the council really expect a four-year-old to walk more than four miles each day to get to school?”
On Thursday parents handed a 1016 strong petition into Surrey County Council, along with parent feedback and a business plan outlying how they could keep the school open.
The school has been meeting with prospective parents to prove to the council that it remains popular.
A decision on whether to close the school is due in May.
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