EDUCATION chiefs have defended the reorganisation of special schools in Worcestershire after MP Mike Foster claimed the county council's policy was in "confusion".
The Labour MP said plans to close Manor Park, Rose Hill and Thornton House schools in Worcester - and reopen two of them - is at odds with national Conservative Party policy.
He has written to the cabinet member for education, June Longmuir, asking her to clarify Conservative policy in his Worcester constituency.
"Nationally the Tories are saying no closures - locally they close special schools. Exactly who is right? The people of Worcestershire deserve to know what Tory policy is," he said.
Coun Longmuir, who has been a governor of a Bromsgrove special school for the past 15 years, said the decision to restructure the schools would help keep them in the county.
"We are reorganising special schools. Closing them is the very thing we are not doing," she said.
"Two or three years ago we came under tremendous pressure to shut them. But I've fought all the time I've been cabinet member to retain special schools because I believe in them."
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