PRESENTATION ON EDUCATION
John O Keefe, Special Projects Consultant, updated the Committee on the City Academy proposals. He conveyed apologies for both the Executive Member for Education and the Executive Director for Education who had been committed to other meetings on the night.
He outlined the Council motion from 14 April:
“Council notes the urgent need to find sites for new government-funded City Academy secondary schools in Brixton, and that the proposed use of the Somerleyton Road site for one of these schools is currently the only option that has been thoroughly evaluated. Council agrees to carry out a similar evaluation of the Shakespeare Road depot site to examine how this site could be developed as a secondary school”.
The DFES feasibility study on the Somerleyton Road site, whilst acknowledging that it was not perfect, had nevertheless approved the location as a viable option. Officers had not produced a report for the meeting as it had been felt such a report would merely amount to a litany of meetings. One third to half of the Team's time devoted to this project.
Devon Allison, Secretary of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, addressed the Committee and stated that parents had been attracted to the meeting under false pretenses as the Executive Member for Education and the Executive Director for Education were not in attendance. She stated that the campaign was on the verge of obtaining the funding for two secondary schools. However the project was in danger of collapse due to the perceived intransigence of the Education Directorate. Devon added that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister had accepted the Nelson Mandela proposals for two schools in Brixton. The Council needed to give back some of the funds which had been obtained by the sale of school sites in recent years. The funds needed for the Brixton City Academy school would be less than the proceeds received from the sale of the Dick Sheppard school site alone.
Funding and location of a site needed to be identified by 1 July or a year would be lost. It was hoped that the schools would be operational by September 2007. Devon acknowledged that the city academy project was not an easy process for the local authority but the administration and officers needed to be fully behind the project to ensure its success. The three local MPs had expressed support for the project.
Ray Perrotte of the Nelson Mandela Foundation reminded the Committee of the motion agreed at the last meeting which urged the Council to be proactive in all aspects of the issues and in particular to dedicate staffing resources and impose deadlines to resolve issues of ownership of the Shakespeare Road depot and Thames Water sites so that the setting up of the proposed schools can go ahead as quickly as possible
The Chair stated that the reference from the last meeting, containing the
City Academy motion, would be discussed at the Executive meeting on 10
May. Members expressed disappointment at the absence of the Executive
Member for Education or deputy, and the Executive Director for Education.
The Chair would write to both.
The Executive and ward councillors needed to be lobbied on these issues. Members acknowledged that officers could only act if directed by the
Executive/Administration. Councillor Cattermole addressed the Committee as opposition spokesman on education. He stated that he was surprised that the Executive Member for Education or deputy, and the Executive Director for Education had not attended. He stated that the Council needed to identify a site and act quickly. It was unfortunate that a report had not been produced. Officers needed to display more pro-activeness with this project.
The Chair stated that he had been told at a meeting in September of a
feasibility study on the Shakespeare Road site. Members asked that this
project be allocated some of the recent windfall funds that the Council had
secured, thought to about £27m. Members also expressed disappointment
that the administration had not decided to rezone the land at Shakespeare
Road depot site for educational use.
MOVED and RESOLVED that
"BAC notes that issues relating to the acquisition funding and sponsorship
potential of various possible sites for the proposed City Academies in
Brixton have become much clearer in recent weeks, and that the Shakespeare Road site now seems to be in the best position to proceed in
the immediate future. Issues of funding and sponsorship for this site will be
easier to resolve in the short term than those for the other potential sites.
BAC notes that the remaining issues of the Shakespeare Road site are
within the Council's power and responsibility to resolve, and urges all
concerned to move this process forward as quickly as possible that
construction of the Academy can begin.
That the LBL provide a precise timeline on the issues and decisions required to use all or part of the Shakespeare Road site and that the Executive acknowledge that the windfall of approximately £27m should in part be used to fill the financial gap for the Brixton City Academy "
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