NORTHUMBERLAND County Council has played political football with the welfare of pupils at Haydon Bridge High School.

That’s the view of Haydon parish councillor Simon Walker, who claimed the council’s failed plan to close the school was reprehensible.

The council wanted to close Haydon Bridge High this summer as part of a merger with Hexham’s Queen Elizabeth High.

The plan would have meant Haydon Bridge pupils transferring to QEHS from September 2017, with a new £46m school opening at the west end of Hexham in 2020.

But the proposal was thrown out by the Government in January, with education ministers choosing to press ahead with their own plans for Haydon Bridge to become a sponsored academy under the direction of the Bright Tribe multi-academy trust.

Last month, the council council insisted it had not given up on its merger plan and indicated it will seek a judicial review of the Government’s decision.

But at last Thursday’s meeting of Haydon Parish Council, Coun. Simon Walker claimed a legal challenge would be costly to the taxpayer.

He said: “A judicial review will cost a fortune and will achieve absolutely nothing. The county council has used Haydon Bridge High School, and the wellbeing of its pupils, as nothing more than a political football. That’s reprehensible. It is absolutely horrific and it should be ashamed.”

Coun. Walker also said that the council should take responsibility for the future boarding provision of long-distance pupils at Haydon Bridge High.

The county council and Bright Tribe, which is expected to complete its takeover of the school in September, are at loggerheads over who is responsible for boarders.

At present, 24 pupils from far- reaching communities are accommodated at the school’s Ridley Hall boarding wing.

The county council has leased the facility since 1975, but chose not to renew its current lease which runs out in July. Ridley Hall was put on the market for £1.6m by its owners, the Evans family, in January.

Daljit Lally, deputy chief executive of Northumberland County Council, said: "The education of our young people is a priority for us and we are determined that the situation at Haydon Bridge High School will be resolved swiftly,

"In a further attempt to move the situation on, we have sought legal advice and are considering all possible options available to us. This includes a judicial review, so that we can understand the basis upon which education minister Lord Nash decided to reject our proposal. Any decision to proceed with this line of action would only be made once all other options had been exhausted.

"In the meantime, the Regional School Commissioner has now imposed their own interim executive board and we are hopeful that they will provide some definite timelines for the future, in the interest of our young people."