Fear house prices hit pupil numbers

Young families are being priced out of staying in the region's rural areas such as south Shropshire, creating a "cycle" where young people are forced to leave to find an affordable place to live – while more older, wealthier people move in, Vivienne Parry, Shropshire councillor for Ludlow South has said.

She said both Shropshire Council and the Government need to do more to stop the exodus of young families from rural counties such as Shropshire and Herefordshire, which are both bucking the national trend with falling school numbers. In most other counties schools are struggling to cope with too many pupils, not too few.

Councillor Parry said: "They (Shropshire Council) are talking about the possibility of some schools closing, that if schools go it alone and don't work together they might have to close down, but I don't think that has to be true – we live in a rural area and I think our independent schools are doing an excellent job.

"It's a cycle that we need to break. In Ludlow they're building more homes for older people, but we are not having any more affordable, rentable properties for our young people who live here to stay and have their children.

"Young people won't have children here, they will move away and come back when they're in their 40s and 50s. That is what we're seeing. But we're making this cycle ourselves.

"I also think it's dreadful that we've got a government that is saying it will sell off all our housing association homes – we need them."

Schools in Shropshire have seen a 10 per cent drop in pupil numbers over the last 10 years, with a further five per cent expected by 2018, which is predicted to mean a loss of £7 million in funding.

In some catchment areas such as around Bridgnorth, Bishop's Castle and Baschurch, it could mean the loss of between 85 and 125 pupils, figures released by the Shropshire Schools Forum Sustainability Task and Finish Group and the Administration Schools Sustainability Task and Finish Group have revealed. Only two areas – around Shrewsbury and Market Drayton – are set to see an increase in pupil numbers in coming years.

A report released in September warned some schools could be in danger of closure and suggested the future of schools in Shropshire could be a collaborative model including federations or multi-academy trusts where staff and facilities are shared between neighbouring sites.