Calls for urgency over new school
Susanna Wilkey CAMPAIGNERS for a secondary school in the south of the borough have called on Camden Council to take a much more positive approach to the scheme. They have slammed the idea that the school will not be needed until 2017 and want the council
Susanna Wilkey
CAMPAIGNERS for a secondary school in the south of the borough have called on Camden Council to take a much more positive approach to the scheme.
They have slammed the idea that the school will not be needed until 2017 and want the council to move more quickly.
Campaigners say they cannot wait eight years for a new school and made a deputation at a meet-ing last week, asking the council to start consultations with resi-dents and engage with the lease-holders over the Wren Street site.
Emma Jones, one of the organisers of the Holborn and St. Pancras Secondary School Campaign, said: "We are very glad that the council is taking Wren Street seriously but the tone of the report is really quite ne-gative in terms of what is possible and how long it will take.
"The council officers seem unwilling to see the potential that these developments offer. We want a more positive approach.
Most Read
- 1 Queen’s Platinum Jubilee: Street parties and road closures in Haringey
- 2 Five jailed after 'cold blooded' murder of Enfield father
- 3 Revealed: Your favourite fish and chip shop in north London
- 4 Crouch End pub ransacked and charity money stolen
- 5 Camden woman in running for Miss Universe Germany
- 6 Belsize Park phone box transformed into art gallery by prep school pupils
- 7 Man jailed for membership of banned neo-Nazi group National Action
- 8 Two more charged in connection with Olsi Kuka killing in Barnet
- 9 Royal beacon in Golders Hill shines light for Queen
- 10 Hampstead Town's first Labour councillor stands down weeks into office
"It is high time something was done because speculation is rife."
Parents in the south of the borough have been campaigning for two years to get a school and wanted it to be included in the Building Schools for the Future scheme but were originally told there was not an appropriate site.
Camden Council ploughed on with its BSF plans for a new academy and an increased entry at South Camden Community School until the site at Wren Street was discovered last year - too late to be included in the programme.
The site is big enough for a small secondary school including a sixth form and the Department for Children Schools and Families has said it will fund the building of such a school, as long as the demand is proven.
A council officers' report says the leases on the site do not expi-re until 2014 so no feasibility study can be carried out until then.
For more information visit www.whereismyschool.org.uk