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Frank Dobson MP |
Take time to make the right decision, says MP
HOLBORN and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson has stormed into the row over Camden’s first city academy school by calling on education chiefs to halt their plans.
He said council claims that the government had imposed a rigid deadline on Camden to get started on the new school, planned for Adelaide Road, Swiss Cottage, were untrue.
Mr Dobson met education secretary Ed Balls to discuss the issue and has received written guidance that there is no rush for the project.
In the past, council chiefs ruled out investigating turning the Eastman Dental Hospital in Gray’s Inn Road into a new school because the site would not be available in time to meet government deadlines.
“What the council should be doing now is going back and starting again,” said Mr Dobson. “What they have done is rush into this and have not investigated how they can help families in the south of the borough. They were wrong about the deadline and the government is clear that Camden can have more time to make the right decision.”
Mr Dobson met Mr Balls before Christmas alongside campaigning parents. He still believes that the dental hospital could be converted into a new secondary school to help parents in places like Holborn and Bloomsbury. There is no school south of the Euston Road in Camden.
Mr Dobson said: “The council has made a series of claims about the new school which have not turned out to be right. They said that the council would get more money if the school was an academy – that turned out not to be the case. Now they’ve said there was a tight deadline to get things done, and that’s turned out not to be the case. It seems they have bodged this project and they should go back and look at it again.”
Mr Balls’s letter to Mr Dobson said: “If the authority wished to take more time to consider proposals it would be possible to move to a later wave.”
The guidance confirmed investment to other schools in Camden would not be delayed if Camden asked for more time to think about placement of its new academy.
Emma Jones from the Where Is My School Campaign? said: “We hope the council will grasp this opportunity to take a strategic lead and rephase its plans. It would mean that Camden could dedicate real time and resources to securing a site for a secondary school in the south of the borough. Such action could transform Camden’s programme from an embarrassing battle into a once in a lifetime triumph.” |
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