§ LORD CLIFFORD OF CHUDLEIGHMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there is any justification for closing down and selling in the open market the village school at Ideford in Devon, thereby depriving the village of its only hall and meeting room, which was originally paid for by the villagers themselves.
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE (LORD SANDFORD)Yes, there is, my Lords. The site of this school is held on trusts having statutory force which require the trustees to dispose of it by sale or lease when the local education authority cease to maintain the school.
§ LORD CLIFFORD OF CHUDLEIGHMy Lords, is it not absolutely scandalous that a big, centralised Government, through the machinations of the Education Act 1944 and the Order in Council of March, 1950, should steal the village school hall which our ancestors paid for in 1856? Do the Government want to abolish our only parish central meeting place to make way for a second home for some Midland tycoon with more "brass" than brains? Finally, does the Minister realise that, apart from myself, there are ten people still living in the parish who are direct descendants of those who paid for this hall to be built in 1856?
§ LORD SANDFORDMy Lords, I can well understand that that supplementary question expresses the feelings of the noble Lord, Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, in this matter. But I have to say that my Answer expressed the law as it stands.
§ LORD DERWENTMy Lords, may I ask my noble friend whether the Secretary of State would consider again very seriously the social implications of putting these village schools on the market when they are done away with as schools? Is my noble friend aware that in some cases the title of the Ministry to the school is, to say the least of it, doubtful, but that villagers cannot afford to take the matter to court?
§ LORD SANDFORDYes, my Lords; but there is no doubt in this particular case.
§ LORD GREENWOOD OF ROSSENDALEMy Lords, will the noble Lord express the hope that when local education authorities find that they have schools which are surplus to their requirements they will first offer them to the local community for socially useful purposes before putting them on the commercial market?
§ LORD SANDFORDCertainly, my Lords, when the law permits this to be done.
§ THE EARL OF ONSLOWMy Lords, would the Minister consider changing the law?