Don’t kill off the free school idea – wait

Published: September 15, 2011

WHY are Camden trying to kill the Belsize Free School?

Why do Camden hate Belsize Park so much?

Within approximately three weeks the Department for Education will make their decision on the future of the proposed Belsize Free School.

As father of a three-year-old boy living in Belsize, I watch with horror as Labour councillors continue  their anti-Belsize campaign, trying to block the proposed free school by pre-emptively selling off the intended site to developers for luxury apartments.

When did Camden’s mandate become giving profits to developers rather than schooling Camden children?

Camden have ignored Belsize schooling for years, failing again and again to provide primary school places for the growing number of young children in Belsize, yet allowing the unfettered growth of private schools. Now local parents are trying to solve the problem themselves, with 132 children registered as potential pupils, yet these politically motivated charlatans are deliberately trying to block the free school by flogging off the potential building on Fitzjohns Avenue.

The council offer no alternative education proposals and their actions are an insult to every resident of Belsize Park and a finger in the air to our children!

I call on all our local councillors to oppose this sale and at minimum force Camden to wait until the Department of Education have made their decision.
Robert Follis,
NW3

Destroying opportunity

IT is nice to hear that Councillor Mike Katz has enormous sympathy for parents who want their children to go to a local school, but it is a shame that he doesn't check his facts before writing to Letters, (September 8).

Our campaign is not asking the council to just give us the buildings we need for our new primary school, we are simply asking you to wait a few weeks to see whether the Department for Education approves our application.

If it does, then the department may provide the capital to purchase the buildings or some other financial offer that is attractive to Camden. If the school goes ahead, the start up and running costs will be paid for by the department.

Please don’t try to convince people that this is a choice between the school or money for Camden.

There is the potential you can have both. It is crazy not to wait such a short time, when to not wait will destroy this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a new school.
Stacy Eden, NW3