Only fair to allow Church of England to have plans properly considered

On July 25, Camden Council will make an indicative decision about how it will proceed with the new school planned for Swiss Cottage. There has been some suggestion that the council might proceed directly to an academy school run by UCL. However, it is only fair to allow anyone interested in running the school - including the Church of England - to submit their plans and have them considered in the same way that UCL already has.

I therefore call on my colleagues on the council to allow a period of (say) three months during which interested parties can submit their proposals and have them properly considered.

After that, an informed decision can be made based on all the facts. If the Church of England (or anyone else) is able to submit better plans than UCL, then of course they should be allowed to run the new school.

This seems to me like the fundamentally fair way of doing things.

Whatever the type of new school, let's not forget that this is great news for the borough. Over 1,000 new secondary places will mean that almost every pupil in the borough who wants to be educated here can be. And the Swiss Cottage site is in the middle of the area where the fewest number of Camden primary school pupils go on to Camden secondary schools.

And at the same time as the new school is built, most other existing schools in the borough will have a comprehensive make-over too.

Cllr Chris Philp

(Cons) Gospel Oak