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Roman Catholic Archbishops Sued Over College Closure

David Weiss | 29.05.2005 18:55 | Education | Oxford | World

Birmingham
May 27, 2005

Legal proceedings were issued against the Catholic Education Service and the trustees and governing body of Plater College, Oxford in the High Court, Birmingham, this Friday afternoon.

The claimant is The Plater College Foundation, the group opposed to the decision to close the college that was taken in February of this year.

in the High Court, Birmingham


The Plater College Foundation has issued legal proceedings in the High Court, Birmingham, against four Roman Catholic Archbishops of England and Wales. They are Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster; Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Birmingham; Peter Smith, Archbishop of Cardiff and Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool.

Also sued, are the Catholic Education Service and its CEO, Oona Stannard and a member of its legal staff, Martin Bradshaw, along with 14 present and former members of the Governing Body of Plater College, Oxford.

The claimants are protesting the closure of Plater College, Oxford, of which the four Roman Catholic archbishops are trustees.

Counsel for the Foundation, John Rhys-Burgess, who is himself a former Plater College student, said:

"No valid reasons for closing the College have ever been given. On the contrary, the stated reasons for the closure were in our view, manifestly false, misleading, self-serving and pretextual."

The action questions the validity of the appointment of the governing body, seeks to halt the closure plan and to replace the trustees and governors of the college



David Weiss
- e-mail: weiss@mail2world.com

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