Bad news. If the development goes ahead, the Strathmore school will be sold for development

Zac Goldsmith has forwarded a reply to parents who have written to him, that he has received from Robert Henderson.

We will be publishing a line by line rebuttal of his letter, but the key point is he confirms that the only way the development will be funded is by selling the Strathmore site. This is not what one councillor was told last week by a source at the council and we have asked for clarification.

Meantime, here is the response of one parent who has received the note (Sarah Freeman) plus the note itself. I am sure Sarah speaks for many other parents.

I am appalled at this letter from Robert Henderson

1. The council are clearly only considering one option

2. We were told at that meeting in July that the development of Strathmore on Strathmore was being considered - clearly this was never the case

3. Why has the council not considered any other method of funding other than selling Strathmore

4. Clearly the consultation process is a joke - the council have decided to go along this route regardless of parental/residents opinion

The letters from Zac Goldsmith/Robert Henderson

Dear Sarah Freeman,
Following our recent exchange, I asked Robert Henderson and the Head of Education at the Council for clarity, and I have received the following response.
Very best wishes,
Zac Goldsmith



We have responded to information requests of this nature a number of times and the plans are set out in the consultation document published on the council’s website, accessed via the following link: Consultation - London Borough of Richmond upon Thames <http://www.richmond.gov.uk/sen_consultation>    The published document include a timeline which has been also been distributed to the community.

The situation to date is that we have just consulted informally on a proposal to deliver services to children and young people with severe learning difficulties through a split site model, either side of the river at primary and secondary. This would include The Russell School, Greycourt School and the Clifden site in Twickenham.  It would mean no longer using the Strathmore School which is not suitable for delivering services to this group.

In relation to Strathmore School the plan is to sell the site and use the funding to support the development of key stage one, two, three and four provision at The Russell School, Greycourt School and Clifden site. Strathmore School will remain as a School with a head teacher but be based on these 3 sites with separate and specialist facilities for Strathmore pupils as well as shared areas. The programme is based on a number of current opportunities – the development of Greycourt’s sixth form provision, the building of a combined secondary and primary school on the Clifden site and the expansion primary school places of The Russell School, which will be subject to a separate consultation and which is not dependent on the development of key stage 2 provision for the Strathmore  pupils. This is a major opportunity to provide high class, fit for purpose specialist facilities for the most vulnerable children and remove them from a building clearly unsuitable. There are insufficient Council funds to rebuild the Strathmore School on its current site.

The primary ambition of the consultation was not and is not about buildings or property. It is about what the best model is and facilities are best for meeting the needs of this group of children and their families.

On the basis of this we are now considering going to statutory consultation and at this stage relevant schools including Greycourt, The Russell and Strathmore are gauging the views of parents about what is in the best interest of children, especially those currently at Strathmore School, in order to ensure that parents support the changes.

If parents are in support we will be going into statutory consultation. At this stage detailed plans will be available about how we intend to educate the pupils currently at Strathmore School across the three sites and how this will be funded. The community will have ample opportunity to offer their views at this stage but again this consultation will focus on the needs and outcomes of children and young people and their parents.

Once the outcome of the statutory consultation is known a decision to proceed will need to be made by the Cabinet. Cabinet will make a decision whether or not to proceed and how to fund the project. If the outcome is positive this will lead to a full planning application which again involves statutory consultation.

In this context the community will have lots of opportunities to have their views heard.

The issue at the moment is that there is a proportion of the community who are stating that decisions have already been made, which they have not and spreading information which is factually incorrect.

We have undertaken consultation to date and this has included;
 

• During June, July and August 2012 (covering a period of seven weeks) the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames started a consultation process on proposals to improve the buildings and facilities of Strathmore School. The proposals outlined plans to create purpose-built facilities co-located with three mainstream schools. The consultation document and on-line survey were available on the Council website from Monday 18 June until Friday 3 August 2012 with paper copies being made available on request from the schools and Civic Centre. 

• There were public meetings held at two different locations in the Borough – one at Strathmore School on Tuesday 26 June at 7.00pm and the other on Thursday 12 July at 2.00pm at Windham Croft Centre. The dates of these meetings were posted on the Council website and available to parents via school newsletters and notices. There was also a press release placed in the Richmond and Twickenham Times on Friday 20 July giving information about the consultation.  

• In addition to this a residents’ meeting, arranged by ward councillors from Petersham and Ham, on Tuesday 24 July at 7.30pm at The Russell School was attended by local authority officers. There was considerable community representation which focused on traffic and parking issues as well as what developments would occur if Strathmore and parts of The Russell School were sold. There are no clear answers to these questions but the community were assured that they would be informed and given the opportunity to state their views at the appropriate time 

As noted, this stage of the consultation has been primarily aimed at parents, staff and governors of the three schools concerned. It should be noted that there were some slight glitches with the on-line survey in the early stages of the consultation which were resolved. However, this may have resulted in some views not being captured so individual schools have decided to consult further with parents to ensure that their views are fully represented.

With regard to the sale of land the original document makes it clear that funding of the build will be met by funds from the Council with additional contributions from the sale of the redundant site. On the basis of the consultation this will be reviewed.

I do hope this responds to the concerns you raise. If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

Robert

Robert Henderson
Assistant Director, Education & Early Intervention
T: 020 8891 7562

E: r.henderson@richmond.gov.uk