It's time for the Council to come clean.

8.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 26th Mar 2006

Now that the Council have abandoned their ill-fated attempt to close Hurworth School, it is time to reconsider the future of secondary education in Darlington. Cllr Williams, has always maintained that falling rolls meant that one of our secondary schools would have to close. Many others have suggested that in the longer run a further school must go, leaving us with four schools and an Academy.

Yet the Council is now saying that they will continue to operate seven secondary schools in the Borough. Yet their numbers just do not add up. If there weren't enough pupils to justify retaining seven schools just a couple of weeks ago, how can Cllr Williams say it is 'tremendous news' that all seven will now remain open?

Let's have some honesty for once in this whole sorry tale of Council incompetence. The Council have so far refused to publish their full Options Appraisal on secondary education, which was prepared in 2005. Apparently this contained seven options, of which only one - to close Hurworth School - has been made public.

At the Full Council meeting last week, Cllr Martin Swainston called on Cllr McEwan to publish the full document, so that the people of Darlington can see the information and options on which the Cabinet relies to make its decisions. It's time to come clean!