This is the letter the Council Leader has written to the Schools Minister….

Andrew Adonis

Parliamentary Under Secretary for State for Schools

Dear Andrew,

Thank you for your letter of 17 October 2006. I am gravely concerned that time is running out if we are to secure the opening of a new boys’ school in September next year – as promised by you in your letter to the EDEN group on 19^th December 2005, by the council repeatedly since and by Tessa Jowell MP in an open letter to constituents last month.

It is imperative that the process of recruiting staff begins now and the advertisement for the Headteacher is currently being prepared. It is also vital that planning permission for the temporary school be sought straightaway. Given these two urgent priorities, a delay of a few weeks now will mean we have lost the opportunity to open the new school in September 2007. This was promised to local parents by all levels of Government and by all political parties.  We have already received 200 applications for the 90 places and I am not prepared to disappoint all of those children who have chosen to apply to the school.  For the record, I do not believe that the ‘risk assessment’ in relation to the Bredinghurst site is balanced.  It ignores the mitigating measures suggested by our education department. I have spoken to our borough commander who says that no risk assessment has been made or cleared through the chain of command and that any views attributed to a police officer in the report should not be taken as the views of local police. It also highlights a number of ‘risks’ that would be inherent in any local school, in any planning process and in any new build project.  In our view these risks are inherent in any such project, can be mitigated against and should not prevent us from proceeding.  In many cases we would suggest that as the local planning and education authority, we are in a better position to judge these risks than the consultants employed in this exercise.  It also fails to assess the risks to those pupils who will not be able to attend the new school if the temporary schools fails to open next year, nor to take into account the many families who will consider leaving Southwark.

I must also record my dissatisfaction about the unreasonable way in which this decision appears to have been made.   Given the above, I would have expected a process of discussion with the Council before any final decision.   However, it is clear that by Friday, a decision had been made ahead of the project board meeting, without informing us, failing to give us an opportunity to point out the flaws in the risk assessment and failing to take account of your mitigations of the risks assessed. Indeed you called me to inform me of the decision on Friday as the project board was still meeting.  The aim of the project board meeting appeared to be to tie in other parties to that decision for public consumption. 

You need to decide quickly whether to re-open discussion about Bredinghurst so that the work needed to prepare the planning application can proceed quickly) or to direct the project board to find another site in Southwark.  Experience with the CoLA shows that where there is a political will to find a solution a solution can be found.  You can rest assured that both from an education point of view and as a planning authority Southwark council will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that our processes are expedited. 

I am more than happy to meet you and discuss what can be done to salvage the situation. The Police Borough Commander would also be happy to attend. I regard it as imperative that our promises to the parents inEast Dulwich are honoured and kept. 

Yours ever,Councillor Nicholas Stanton

LEADER OF THE COUNCIL