SMALL schools in rural areas like West Somerset could face closure in Somerset County Council’s latest cost-saving initiative.

Today, councillors approved a six-week review to determine if schools in the county are providing value for money.

Schools that are failing or cost too much will be given a chance to improve their performance, share resources or, as a last resort, face closure.

A confidential list of 16 schools due for review has already been drafted but the county council has said first and primary schools with a roll fewer than 30, middle schools with fewer than 240 pupils and secondary schools with fewer than 450 pupils will be reviewed.

That could place a number of schools in West Somerset in the firing line.

John Osman, cabinet member for children and young people, said: “We will first look at schools and determine whether we need to take any action at all. Unless Ofsted recommends otherwise, or a school is already causing concern, or their finances plummet, we will tell schools to carry on. If there are any schools that don’t meet these standards, then we will work with them to address these issues.”

The action has come as a result of declining pupil numbers, with pupil attendance in Somerset falling from 70,642 in 2003 to 65,992 in July 2010 – a drop of 4,650.

But Jerry Weedon, headteacher at Dulverton Middle School, which has about 150 pupils on roll, has warned that pupils should not be disadvantaged for living in rural areas.

He said: “All children should have the same access to facilities and staff. Do you really want to bus children as young as four across a moor? I know it costs just over £4 a child a day to transport a child, so that has to be looked at against the cost of savings.”