HC Deb 29 March 1909 vol 3 cc159-60W
Captain FABER

asked the President of the Board of Education if he will state whether a petition, signed by over three quarters of the ratepayers at Broughton, in Hampshire, against the building of a county council school there, has been handed in to the Board of Education and the Local Government Board; arid whether, before deciding to build, he will take some other step of testing the feeling of the inhabitants?

Mr. RUNCIMAN

I have received the petition referred to, and I understand a copy has also been sent to my right, hon. Friend the President of the Local Government Board. A public inquiry, at which the question of school accommodation was exhaustively discussed, was held at Broughton on 18th December, 1907, and, after consideration of the Report, the Board of Education decided on 18th March, 1908, that the proposed council school was necessary. I regret I am not prepared to re-open the case.