Opposition mounts to conversion of hostels to ease places crisis

Published: 10 February, 2011
by JOSIE HINTON

Free school bid ‘will siphon off classroom repairs cash’

PARENTS who want to set up a free school in Belsize Park will be told the plan proves that money is being diverted away from existing schools.

The proposal to open a primary school at council-owned hostels in Fitzjohn’s Avenue and Maresfield Gardens has run into opposition from Labour chiefs at the Town Hall.

While parents maintain it will ease a shortage of school places, finance chiefs say the hostels could be sold off and the money used to fund a backlog of repairs to Camden schools.

This has always been the thrust of Labour criticism of Education Secretary Michael Gove’s free school policy of handing money to groups who want to set up their own schools. His department cancelled more than £170million of grants to repair Camden’s creaking primary and secondary schools last year.

The parents, who have set up a working group, say the disused hostels would be perfect for a new school. 

Leila Roy, whose son attended the temporary Courthope Education Centre, set up in a church hall for children without a school place, said: “The council recognises there is a huge problem with school places in this area. It would be a waste to sell these properties when they could benefit so many people.”

She added: “This is not a political issue, four-year-olds cannot vote.” 

But the application has sparked outrage among Labour councillors who want to spend money raised from selling assets on much-needed repairs to existing schools. Under the government’s free school legislation, the Department for Education (DfE) would pay for the refurbishment of the hostels. A provisional plan for refurbishment has been drawn up.

Labour finance chief Councillor Theo Blackwell said: “Obviously, the parents who are searching for the best place for their children are not to blame, but the system is diverting resources from schools in desperate need of repair. 

“The biggest problem facing Camden schools is that without investment they will deteriorate.” 

To ease the school places crisis, the council has earmarked a site in Liddell Road, West Hampstead, for a two-form-entry primary. But parents fear its proximity to the borough boundary means places will go to Brent children.

In a letter to the council they wrote: “If our proposal is accepted, it would go a long way to addressing the shortage of places in this part of Camden and has the advantage of being located right in the heart of the problem area.  

“It would also bring together local children and their families and give them a local school. We can see no disadvantages to the council of this project.”

Liberal Democrat councillor Tom Simon, who supports the parents’ school bid, said: “This proposal would be a great way of helping with the shortage of primary school places in the north-west of Camden. It would be a really tragic waste of an opportunity if Camden was to forge ahead and sell the buildings on the open market.

“Belsize is crying out for a secular primary school and this location is the only viable option in the area.”

The group is expecting a reply from the DfE by the end of February.   

Southern discomfort 

THE New Journal has learned that resistance is growing among Labour members to plans for a free school for secondary-age pupils in the south of the borough.

Officially, Labour chiefs are still deciding whether they will support parents campaigning for The Holborn School to open on the site of council-owned lock-ups in Wren Street. The Institute of Education has expressed interest in sponsoring a school there. 

But there are divisions among the Labour membership in Camden as to whether the project should be supported wholeheartedly, given that it is part of a strategy which many say draws resources from existing schools. 

Some Labour members and governors claim the free school may attract pupils from Camden’s established schools, which in some areas are not as oversubscribed as they used to be, and that it will be in direct competition with the new UCL Academy in Swiss Cottage.