Free school to be given Westminster Adult Education Service site in Amberley Road

Published: 8th April, 2011
by JOSH LOEB

CITY Hall stands accused of pulling the rug from under its own adult education service to make room for a controversial free school.

Plans for the new institution, to be run by a charity founded by hedge fund multi-millionaire Arki Busson, have divided residents since they were announced last year and speculation has raged about possible locations.

Now the council’s young people’s chief, Nickie Aiken, has named a site in Amberley Road which is currently occupied by the Westminster Adult Education Service (WAES) as the preferred option, sparking fears the further education college may be left homeless.

City Hall has insisted it is working with the WAES to find it alternative accommodation but Westminster Labour group leader Paul Dimoldenberg this week demanded urgent clarification about the fate of the college, which provides services including apprenticeships and language courses.

He said: “Westminster Conservatives have comprehensively failed to do the basic job of providing a new home for the services to the 6,000 Westminster residents who use the WAES every year.” 

The ARK Atwood Primary Academy is set to open in September in temporary premises in Third Avenue, Queen’s Park but could relocate to Amberley Road, north Paddington, as early as the following year. 

Cllr Aiken said the site was appropriate as there is “demand for school places” in the area but teachers and governors at nearby Wilberforce Primary School have questioned that claim.

Headteacher Angela Piddock said: “There is a school shortage in Westminster but not in this area.”

Under the government’s free schools initiative parents, charities and religious groups can propose and run their own schools.

In 2009 plans to build a flagship new base for the WAES in Moxon Street, Paddington, were put on hold after the council lost out on a £9.2million government grant.

Cllr Dimoldenberg said: “After bungling the proposed scheme for the Moxon Street site and losing the £9.2 million government grant, the Conservatives have now handed the WAES site in Amberley Road over to the new free school without finding a replacement home for WAES.” 

Cllr Aiken said: “There is a real need for additional primary school places in the north of the city and we very much support the new ARK primary academy. We have agreed in principle that our site on Amberley Road is the most appropriate long-term location for the new school as this is in the area of Westminster where there is anticipated to be most demand for school places. This is subject, however, to the council working with the Westminster Adult Education Service, who currently occupy the site, to find suitable accommodation to ensure their services can continue to be provided. The school will serve the increasing number of parents who want high-quality places in a part of Westminster where there is an increasing shortage of reception vacancies.”