WE, the undersigned, are writing to express our profound concern at the Conservative government’s plans to force all schools to become academies and thereby abolish any local-government accountability in our schooling system.

This measure threatens our democratic right to choose to send our children to local-government administered schools if we so wish.

It threatens the education of our children in non-academy schools, as governors and teachers will now have to spend years on bureaucracy and red tape, instead of single-mindedly focussing on supporting all pupils to succeed.

It threatens the very existence of our smallest schools as they won’t be able to meet the financial criteria of academy status and will be forced to close.

It threatens the integrity of the entire state education system as we will end up with fragmentation, with no local oversight, and our taxation going to academy chains’ shareholder profit instead of into solving the teacher recruitment crisis. Is this the first step on the road to privatisation?

Our local MP, Neil Carmichael, is chairman of the parliamentary education committee. We call upon him publicly to tell his constituents what his position is on this abuse of our democratic system for what appear to be ideological motives that have nothing to do with educational quality or our children’s well-being.

We also call upon all concerned citizens to write to the prime minister, the education secretary and your local MPs to express your total rejection of this outrageous attack on local democracy.

Doina Cornell, Dursley

Dr Richard House, Stroud

John Marjoram, Stroud

Skeena Rathor, Stroud

and 120 other Gloucestershire residents:

Peter Adams

Dominique Ammon

Caroline Baird

James Beecher

Gwen Belcher

Helen Beioley

Sally Birch

Judith Boniface

Philip Booth

Jo Bousfield

Andrew Kambites

Carol Kambites

Arun Cappi

Maurice Case

Mike Christy

Miranda Clifton

Jeff Cloves

Grace Lindsay Cooke

Andy Coombes

Malcolm Cooper

Hereward Corbett

Amy Dadachanji

Natalie Davenport

Ruth Davey

Tim Davies

Mike Davis

Paul Denney

Roy Derbyshire

Mike Doughty

Caroline Eardley

Jude Emmet

Malcolm Eva

David G. Evans

Marina Fontenla

Hilary Fowles

John Fowles

Rachel Freeth

Jasmine Fulcher

Jan Garbutt

Ken Garbutt

Paul Gibson

Eva Goddard

Tasha Goddard

Jeremy Green

Dick Greenslade

Lynn Haanen

Bill Hicks

Debbie Hicks

Nicola Hillary

Bob Hilliard

Martin Hodges

Tony Hodges

Jane Hoedell

Ella Hoskin

Clare Hudman

Steve Hurrell

Mervyn Hyde

Nicholas James

Norman Kay

Graham Kennish

Cyril Laffort

Martin Large

Lucy Lidell

Sue Limb

Sheila Lisster

Val Lock

Mike Lovell

Wanda Lozinska

Rachel Lyons

Helen McComb

Christian McDonaugh

Fiona McDonaugh

Nicola Maher

Paul Mapplebeck

Peter Maynard

Gerry Metcalf

Gabriel Millar

Fred Miller

Maggie Mills

Caroline Molloy

Joan Moore

Stephen Moore

Dittany Morgan

Steve Morley

Aulani Mulford

Paul Munns

Alice Murray

Steven Naumann

Mark Nurse

Brian Oosthuysen

Carole Oosthuysen

Marie-Helene Pedebernade

Amy Perry

David Perry

Judith Plenty

Roger Plenty

James Prewett

Vanessa Price

Kirsty Pridgeon

Martin Quick

Mary Reddaway

Indigo Redfern

Steve Redman

Mary Robinson

Ruth Schamroth

Brendan Skelton

Deborah Smith

Jaqui Smith

Mrs Jo Smith

Gary Strudwick

Jonathan Swann

Wendy Thomas

Chas Townley

Betsy Vriend

Dave Wade

Liz Wade

Geoff Wheeler

K. White

Miriam Yagud