Redbridge Council has unanimously opposed plans to turn Snaresbrook Primary School into an academy.

A motion put forward by Liberal Democrat councillor Richard Hoskins was backed by all parties and independents at a full council meeting last night.

The school was placed in special measures after an Ofsted inspection in June, despite being regularly judged ‘good’ previously, according to Cllr Hoskins.

The motion recognised that councils have limited powers of persuasion when it comes to DfE intervention, but called for the council to support the Meadow Walk school’s new leadership and parents who also opposed plans to force the school into becoming an academy.

Cllr Hoskins said he was pleased to receive support for the “fiercely worded motion”.

“It’s a clear declaration of where the council as a whole stands, we support the parents and governors of the school,” he said today.

Speaking at Redbridge Town Hall last night, he said: “We do not believe that this [forcing Snaresbrook Primary School to become an academy] would be in the best educational interest of present and future pupils.

“It is a message we must send out to the Secretary of State, the DfE, to the school, its staff, its governors, parents, carers and pupils alike.

“Snaresbrook Primary School ain’t broke. There is no need to make it an academy to mend it.

Leyton and Wanstead MP John Cryer wrote a letter to Michael Gove yesterday, also expressing opposition to the plans.

Governors will now embark upon a formal consultation with parents, after which a decision will be made on the question of whether to become an academy or not.