SUFFOLK County Council will not be re-examining its decision to close middle schools in the Stowmarket area.

On Tuesday the council’s cabinet voted unanimously to close the schools despite fierce opposition.

The Liberal Democrats lobbied to have the scrutiny committee inspect the decision.

Lib Dem Penny Otton, spokeswoman for Children and Young People’s Services said: “Why has the county council refused this request? It is not only the Liberal Democrats who have been snubbed by this decision, but also the pupils and parents who have been refused any opportunity to make any further comment on this extremely important decision.”

Stowmarket, Combs, Bacton and Needham Market Middle Schools will all close in 2015.

The council undertook a two-month long consultation with schools and parents in the education pyramid.

Public meetings were held in schools and parents were able to submit their responses to the council.

A spokesman for Suffolk County Council said: “All call in requests have to be assessed by the council’s monitoring officer to see if there are legitimate grounds for the decision to be halted.

“In this case, the monitoring officer has found that information addressing to all of the grounds of the call in was in fact contained in the cabinet report or previous reports and that the decision is in line with previous decisions.

“His conclusion is that the cabinet did have sufficient information before them in order to make a sound decision. The call in has therefore been rejected.”