THE leader of Bury Council branded one mother a "fishwife" and told others to stop their "stupid behaviour" during heated exchanges at a meeting to discuss controversial school closures.

The attack came from Coun John Byrne on Wednesday night (May 8) and was directed at mother-of-two Joanne Wilcock and around 100 parents concerned over local education authority (LEA) proposals to close and merge schools in the borough.

Yesterday (Thurs May 9) the long-serving councillor was unrepentant, adding: "Councillors should not be interrupted."

But Mrs Wilcock, who lives in Affetside where the village school is facing closure, hit back, saying she was "disgusted and shocked" by the council leader's "childish" show of anger.

The executive committee, the council's decision-making body, accepted LEA proposals to close St Paul's CE Primary, Ramsbottom, and accommodate pupils at nearby St Andrew's CE Primary.

The committee had already ruled to close Affetside Primary and accommodate pupils at Christ Church CE Primary in Walshaw.

They further agreed to the closure of St John's CE and St Mark's CE primary schools in Bury and to create a new joint primary school on the site of St John's.

The decisions, taken to address the problem of falling pupil rolls, angered many parents who dispute the pupil figures and also the costs used by the LEA as the criteria to justify closure.

Mrs Wilcock said: "Maybe I shouldn't have spoken out, but I had to do so on behalf of the village and what the loss of our school would do to it. Bury Council give us nothing and now they want to take away a valuable resource.

"I feel passionately about the village and, because of the unfair way in which the executive is run, I would not have had a chance to speak."

Now determined campaigners in Affetside and Ramsbottom are seeking legal advice, claiming the procedures used to close the schools was flawed.

They have two months to lodge their further objections before a final decision is made by the Schools Organisation Committee.

Leading campaigner of the Save Affetside School Action Group (SASAG), Mrs Dawn Robinson-Walsh added: "Wednesday's decision has been made on the basis of lowest common-denominator politics. The proposed closure of Affetside is a perverse decision based on a planned consultation process, and we shall be taking legal advice. Additional legal advice will be sought regarding the insults!"

Mr Andrew Todd, campaigner for St Paul's, said: "We have had an excellent result. The silly statements made by the executive committee will be of further use to us in our campaign of opposition."

Asked if he was prepared to apologise for his remarks, Coun Byrne replied: "The public were given plenty of opportunity to speak during question time, which we extended. When councillors are discussing issues they shouldn't be interrupted. On a number of occasions I politely asked them not to interrupt. I did use the word fishwife and said if she wanted to act like one then she should go out."

He added: "Many other people were quite happy to listen to other people's opinions."

Coun Steve Perkins, executive member of lifelong learning, justified the executive's support for closures, commenting: "We do not have spare money to fund empty places", adding that the case for the closures was "overwhelming".