COLCHESTER Conservatives hold deep misgivings about plans of their Tory counterparts at Essex County Council to close a Colchester school, it can be revealed.

In 2008, Tory members of Colchester Council met Lord Hanningfield, then leader of Essex County Council, to voice their concerns about his plans to shut two south Colchester schools, including Thomas Lord Audley.

But Kevin Bentley, now leader of Colchester Council’s Tories, said they did not make their fears public during a campaign to save the school because they thought it would be counter-productive.

He told the Gazette: “My colleagues in Colchester were concerned about the situation in south Colchester and the loss of secondary education.

“The decision we came to really was what we’re going to get is major headlines on Tory versus Tory. That becomes the story and we start losing focus.

“I think we were grown up enough to say actually, let’s do this quietly. It was a powerful issue, there’s no question about that, but what we didn’t want to get is headlines that would distract from what we wanted to achieve.

“We’re talking about youngsters here.”

In October 2008, Lord Hanningfield set out his plans to close the two secondary schools in the south of Colchester, Thomas Lord Audley and Alderman Blaxill.

He wanted to use £130million of Building Schools for the Future money to turn Sir Charles Lucas Arts College into an academy and rebuild and expand other, better performing schools in the borough.

Mr Bentley insisted his colleagues at County Hall, including current leader Peter Martin and Stephen Castle, the councillor responsible for education, had only the best intentions for Colchester’s children.

But he said: “I have no doubt that the plans they have drawn up were trying to do the best they could for Colchester. I said I understand that, but we’re dealing with lives here and I think we need to pay attention to that.

“We understood there was a need to not have a void of education at secondary level in the south of Colchester.”

This is what opposition activists, most notably Colchester’s Lib Dem MP Bob Russell and Dave Harris, Labour councillor for Berechurch, have been saying all along.

A huge groundswell of support rose to save the schools, resulting in angry scenes at public meetings held by the county council.

Mr Bentley continued: “I’m sure critics will say ‘why didn’t you say so at the time?’ “You could jump up and down and create a huge fuss.

“But I think what we have got to do is when you see something needs to be changed, you don’t go shouting from the rooftops about it because I don’t think it achieves anything.

“All we do there is raise people’s expectations and start pointing fingers. That raises hackles on both sides, we don’t get any movement, and nothing happens.

“But, by persuasion and encouragement and debate, I think we have moved forward. I think we have managed to have a major breakthrough.”

That breakthrough is a pledge by the county council to have another look at the closure of Thomas Lord Audley, if not Alderman Blaxill, as fears rise that Government cuts mean Colchester will not get the promised investment.

Jonathan Tippett, executive headteacher of Stanway, Thomas Lord Audley and Alderman Blaxill schools, has plans to ensure education standards continue to improve whatever happens.

Since Mr Bentley became a county councillor in June 2009, he said he had worked from within to try to convince colleagues of the need for a secondary school for south Colchester’s residents.

Two cabinet members representing Colchester at county council level, John Jowers and Jeremy Lucas, joined him in a meeting with Mr Martin to set out his case. Mr Bentley, a former Thomas Lord Audley governor, insisted he had not made a U-turn on the issue, while his colleagues were responding to changing circumstances.

He said: “I think they understand the arguments because they came with me to see Peter [Martin] and Stephen [Castle].

“They took the pragmatic view that the world has changed since it was first announced.

“Politics means decision-taking, and you make a decision where things have to change around that, which means you alter that decision.”

Rarely one to shy away from the limelight, Mr Bentley insists he has negotiated quietly in a bid to keep politics out of what should be a purely educational issue.