THE closure of Northcourt Primary School in Gravesham has drawn another step nearer.

County councillors on Kent County Council’s Conservative-controlled cabinet have voted for the school to shut despite appeals for a reprieve. The ten-strong cabinet has agreed the primary school should close and pupils be transferred to nearby schools.

Cllr Keith Ferrin, a cabinet member, upset campaigners when he told the crucial meeting the number of parents applying for places at Northcourt indicated the community had “turned its back” on the school.

He said: “There has not been much of an outpouring of emotion if you look at the facts. It is clear that the community has already turned its back on the school. Only 80 people came to a public meeting. That is a uniquely low figure. We are only being asked to go through what is a formality."

KCC’s decision is not necessarily the end of the matter, however. If there are formal objections during the official month-long consultation in April, the closure proposal will have to be considered by Kent’s School Organisation Committee.

If this committee fails to back the closure plan unanimously, it will be for the Government-appointed Schools Adjudicator to rule on the matter, as it did last time the school was threatened with closure.