A TRUCE has been offered in the fight against Herefordshire Council's draft plan to close or merge 37 schools across the county.

The Herefordshire Association of School Governors, co-ordinating much of the opposition to the plan, has told the Hereford Times it is willing to work with the council on a new set of proposals - provided the present proposals are dropped completely.

In response, Council leader councillor Roger Phillips said he was seeking an urgent meeting with the association - or its chairman Steve Grist - to "develope dialogue" over the issue. The Hereford Times has learned that this meeting may be as soon as tonight (Tuesday).

Against this background, it has emerged today (Tuesday) that new figures from the Office of National Statistics could contradict the case the council is making for closing and merging schools. These new figures show a consistantly rising birthrate in the West Midlands.

Coun Phillips said that an initial analysis of the new figures suggests a substantial alteration of the authority's argument.

In an earlier interview with the paper, Coun Phillips said that he had been surprised by the scale of the draft plan and conceded that it currently had no political support within the council.

Mr Grist said that governors recognised the difficulties the council had in framing a schools policy, in line with government requirements and the funding available

"We would be happy to work with the council towards solving these problems, but they cannot be solved by creating much greater problems. The (present) draconian proposals do not begin to offer the basis of an agreement - we cannot accept small modifications and regard them as a victory," said Mr Grist.

"We would urge the elected councillors to have the good sense to insist on a fresh start that will take account of the county's wishes and needs," he said.

The Association is already planning a major public meeting over the plans in Hereford later this month.