Commentary Part 2: Establishment, Discontinuance Or Alteration of Schools in England Section 28: Restriction on establishment, alteration or discontinuance of schools
140.This section replaces existing provisions in the 1998 Act (in their application to England). It prohibits the opening or closing of maintained schools, or the making of prescribed alterations to them, without the publication and determination of statutory proposals.
141.Subsection (3) provides that the prohibition does not apply where the Secretary of State has issued a direction to the local education authority to close a community or foundation special school (e.g. in the interests of health and safety) or to close a school in special measures, or where the governing body of a foundation or voluntary school give notice that they intend to close the school.
142.Subsection (4) prohibits the making, without the publication and determination of statutory proposals, of an alteration which involves the removal of a foundation or the reduction in the proportion of governors appointed by the foundation so that they no longer constitute a majority.