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South needs school: Tory chief
Parents campaign gears up as green light is given for consultation
CAMDEN’S education chief has admitted he thinks a new school is needed in the south of the borough – even though the Town Hall has decided to build one in Swiss Cottage instead.
Conservative Councillor Andrew Mennear told a schools committee meeting on Thursday he had always hoped Camden could build two new schools but was ultimately priced out of the market.
He said: “I would have liked two schools but there are lots of different priorities and it is not just about what I want, I do not have the final say on everything that the council does.”
The council enquired about the possibility of buying land at the Eastman Dental Hospital in Gray’s Inn Road and land behind the British Library in Euston Road – both in King’s Cross – but dismissed the projects as too expensive. Figures of how much it would actually cost to buy either site are being kept under wraps for “commercial” reasons.
Cllr Mennear said that the only way to change things was to lobby the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone to help local authorities open new schools.
He added: “If we were starting with a blank map of Camden and we could choose where we put our secondary schools, they wouldn’t be where they are now. But this is the situation and given the circumstances, we think we have found the best site.”
His comments came as stranded parents living south of the Euston Road demanded an explanation as to why the area had been ignored in the council’s school-building plans.
They are refusing to take no for an answer and have made three separate deputations to the council in the last seven days.
Campaigner Polly Shields told a council scrutiny meeting last Wednesday: “Education is a fundamental right. Are our children being told that they can’t have a school because it costs too much? If the will exists there are ways of raising funds to build a school in our area.”
In a bid to calm the protest, the Town Hall has announced plans to expand South Camden Community School, although education chiefs admit that they can not reserve places for families in southern wards.
The issue is a major decision at the Town Hall because Camden is expecting to scoop around £200 million from the government to refurbish its existing secondaries.
Ms Shields said the need is greatest in the south of the borough – rather than in Swiss Cottage. She said that the council had not done enough research and had chosen to build a new school with a catchment area that would overlap with Haverstock and Quintin Kynaston schools.
Ms Shields added: “Any claim that the proposal to build a new school is based on thorough knowledge is simply untrue. We need a detailed feasibility study of the Eastman and other sites and a concerted effort to raise the extra funds needed to invest in this deprived area.”
Cllr Mennear, meanwhile, is also under pressure – alongside Lib Dem colleague Councillor John Bryant, who holds the children’s portfolio – to find a new site for the award-winning Frank Barnes Primary School for Deaf children. The school’s current grounds in Adelaide Road will make way for the new secondary school – if the government approves Camden’s proposed programme of work. Staff and governors at Frank Barnes have demanded help to find new premises.
Jane Stanton-Humphreys, chairwoman of the governing body, said: “We are the only school in London providing an environment in which profoundly deaf children can receive an education which ensures that they have the opportunities afforded to their peers in mainstream education.”
Cllr Mennear said: “We have met with Frank Barnes and we are talking to them about how we will go forward. It’s a regional resource that does not just serve Camden.
*Last night the council’s cabinet approved the Lib Dem/Tory alliance schools programme.
- see Comment on page 18 and Letters page 20. |
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