THE Government has rejected a proposal by Northumberland County Council to close Haydon Bridge High School in the summer.

Education minister Lord Nash rejected the plan to send Haydon Bridge’s pupils to Hexham’s Queen Elizabeth High School in September, and open a new £46m super academy in the west end of Hexham by 2020.

Instead, he pledged the Government would press ahead with its long-held plans to turn the Haydon Bridge school into an academy in its own right, under the direction of the Bright Tribe trust.

The takeover by Bright Tribe, first mooted 18 months ago, has been delayed by legal issues surrounding the transfer of buildings and land, and its reluctance to take on the Ridley Hall boarding wing of the school.

Question marks also remain over the trust’s track record, after its Whitehaven Academy, in Cumbria, was placed in special measures following an Ofsted inspection last year.

County council chief executive Steve Mason said he was disappointed at the Government’s reluctance to consider the merger with Queen Elizabeth High School.

“The fact is that over the next few years, the situation could be that you have a high school at Haydon Bridge with insufficient revenues to run, and a high school at Hexham with insufficient revenues to run.”

Mr Mason was concerned at Bright Tribe’s unwillingness to take charge of Ridley Hall facility, which currently accommodates 26 boarders.

“Bright Tribe wants the county council to shut the residential block and take on the cost of doing that.”

A Bright Tribe spokesman said it was the local authority’s responsibility to get children to school, even after it becomes an academy.

He added: “If it chose to do so, it could continue to provide boarding facilities as part of that duty.”

Haydon parish councillor Eileen Charlton welcomed confirmation that the high school would remain open. She said closure would have been disastrous for the village’s economy.