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Bogus reasoning about a search for new school site
• IT is revealing from the debate on the siting of a new secondary school that University College London would have preferred a school south of the Euston Road had the council been able to provide a site.
Lib Dem Town Hall chiefs claim to have searched for a site, but there was not one to find.
I find their reasoning bogus. While a site for a school would no doubt be expensive, with the extra cash we have identified in the Town Hall this is an example not of “can’t pay” but one of “won’t pay”.
First, service cuts have meant that the Town Hall has built up massive reserves – £30 million (1 per cent on council tax is approximately £900,000) and it underspent this year by a massive £14 million. Shortage of money was not a problem when the council decided on July 25 to invest £11 million of our money on brand new Town Hall offices.
Secondly, new local government powers now allow the council to borrow in ways the previous administration couldn’t.
Prudential borrowing is being used, for example, in the pricey £25 million refit (minimum) of Kentish Town baths.
Thirdly, the Town Hall is the biggest land owner in Camden: it literally owns swathes of land across the borough. At a time of massive development the Town Hall could have been in a position to ‘swap’ land if it had the foresight. High property prices are an advantage as well as a disadvantage in this climate. This is a common practice in the industry, and together with the extra freedoms outlined above a solution could have been sought if there had been the political will.
Land swaps could also, for example, have been built into ‘estate regeneration’, so the community can seen the benefit of redevelopment beyond their own home.
Finally, the recognised demand in the north of the borough can be met via the redevelopment of the Quintin Knyaston School, less than 1km away from the proposed new school.
While priority is now given to Westminster residents, continuance of this policy could and should be open to legal challenge in the same way that Labour’s ‘Fortress Camden’ was four years ago. An open, cross-border policy would help those in the north west and prevent ‘clustering’ at newly rebuilt Haverstock school.
A site in the south of the borough would have given extra choice to all parents and pupils from Holborn through to the Regent’s Park estate (which has the highest number of unplaced students in the borough) and Somers Town: five wards with the highest number of council estates.
The £200 million given to Camden by the government is a unique opportunity.
Sadly, and for reasons best known to themselves, the leadership of the Town Hall has fixed itself on a path which ignores the need of very many parents and children.
CLLR THEO BLACKWELL
Labour, Regent’s Park ward
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