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Proposed plans for the Wren Street site, which were handed out at the Town Hall |
There’s no place to build a new school... oh, except here
Campaigners for a secondary in the south of the borough find ‘suitable, affordable’ site
THEY were told by the council there was no possible site for a new school: so they went away and found one themselves.
Now, parent campaigners pressing for a new school to be built in Wren Street, Holborn, say all they need is support from councillors to make the project work.
Political parties have been left pondering whether a pledge to turn a row of council lock-ups in the street into a small secondary school should be included in manifestos for the next boroughwide elections – now less than two years away – after a direct challenge was laid down at Monday’s full council meeting.
Emma Jones, one of the organisers of the Where Is My School? campaign, said it was time for councillors to stop hiding behind unelected officers and support the project.
She said: “Our campaign has been told countless times [by councillors] that it is the lack of a suitable affordable site that stands between us and the school we have needed for 30 years.
“We’ve found a suitable, affordable site and this is the opportunity to help us.”
Parents handed around designs of how a school with four forms of entry, drawn up by a Holborn design firm, could fit on the site – if only the council backed it.
The area has historically been short of secondary school places and while families in the north-west of the borough are set to benefit from a new academy school in Swiss Cottage over the next couple of years, there are no firm council plans to find a new school for children in the south, beyond tacking extra forms on to South Camden School in King’s Cross.
Ms Jones said: “Having found a site, we now need the executive to make a public commitment to building us a school by immediately earmarking Wren Street for this purpose, committing funds to the development of this project and making the case to government for the chronic need for a school in this location.”
It remains a point of controversy that the council did not find the site itself after two searches that were described as “exhaustive”, although parents are looking to form working relationships with the council rather than fire shots of criticism.
Conservative education chief Councillor Andrew Mennear apologised for the glaring oversight.
He said: “The proposal is still a little small but there have been a couple of other cases where the government have approved fewer forms of entry.
“I am disappointed that the site did not come up in our search. I am told that the officer who did the searches has left, so we can’t ask them why it was missed.”
Cllr Mennear has previously extolled the virtues of smaller schools in inner cities and said in past debates how London should look to European models.
But he has stopped short of promising to make Wren Street a reality, despite calling the plans “very exciting”.
He said: “I personally will be pushing for it to be part of our manifesto but it is not just down to me.”
Camden is pressing ahead with opening a new academy. The Conservatives vowed to look at the chances of opening two schools in Camden, a pledge which was watered down after the party entered into a post-election pact with the Liberal Democrats.
The campaign is gathering strength. Conservative councillor Rebecca Hossack asked a question at the full council meeting designed to see where the Liberal Democrats stood on the issue.
Instead of questioning Cllr Mennear, her colleague, she asked Liberal Democrat finance chief Councillor Ralph Scott to comment.
Cllr Scott said: “The Wren Street site is subject to a series of leases to commercial tenants for employment-based uses which have varying expiry dates to 2012 and beyond. The council will consider potential alternative options to the current arrangement at Wren Street nearer the time.”
“I am very homesick,” he added. “We all are.”
But in his poetry, Mr Botan does not look back.
“I focus on life in Britain,” he said. “Being a refugee is a constant struggle, but I always stay positive and work hard.” |
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