text_body: --- DIVISION TITLE ---
  
  Education Bill - Amendment No. 3
  
  --- MOTION EFFECT ---
  
  <p>The majority Content voters passed an <a href="http://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?gid=2005-03-02b.252.1">amendment to the Education Bill</a>. The amendment introduced a new clause that primary schools in rural areas could only be closed after full consultation with parents and parish, borough and district councils.</p>
  
  <p>The clause reads as follows:</p>
  
  <blockquote><p>CLOSURE OF RURAL PRIMARY SCHOOLS</p>
  
  <p>(1) No primary school located in a rural area in England or Wales, as defined by the Office of National Statistics under its Rural and Urban Area Classification 2004, may be closed withoutâ</p>
  
  <p>(a) full consultation with the registered parents of the school,</p>
  
  <p>(b) full consultation with the relevant parish, borough and district council in England or the community council in Wales,</p>
  
  <p>(c) consideration of transport implications, including the future welfare and safety of children living in the area served by the school, the recurrent transport cost likely to be incurred by the local education authority, the quality and availability of other transport links and the environmental impact of the closure, including traffic congestion,</p>
  
  <p>(d) consideration of the overall and long-term impact on the local community of closure, including the loss of the building as a community facility, and</p>
  
  <p>(e) consideration of alternatives to closure, including the potential for federation with other local schools and the scope for transforming the school into an extended school or children's or community centre to provide an extended range of local community services.</p>
  
  <p>(2) The relevant parish, borough and district council for the purposes of this section are those parish, borough and district councils having competence in the geographical area in which the school is located.</p>  
  
  
  
  --- COMMENTS AND NOTES ---
  
  (put thoughts and notes for other researchers here)
  