No NEED for School in South Bucks …..
Since South Bucks has conclusively demonstrated it doesn’t WANT a new school, and since want is not the same as need, I wrote to Mike Appleyard and Dominic Grieve MP to understand what the opinion of government officials is.
I have yet to hear from Mr Appleyard (are you there?) but the ever-courteous Mr Grieve has written the following:
“From my discussions with the Department for Education, their best view is that they think a further secondary school will be needed to serve the population of South Buckinghamshire within the next ten years. That said, I do not think that it is disputed that at present the school age population can be accommodated in the existing South Buckinghamshire provision.
It is, however, important to understand that from the point of view of the Department for Education local government boundaries are not of particular concern to them in deciding where schools should be located! Area need is exactly that and will be considered to cross the Buckinghamshire/Slough boundary. There is absolutely no doubt that Slough needs more school places now.
I would like to emphasise that none of that detracts from the perfectly legitimate objections of Stoke Poges residents to the Khalsa School being sited in Stoke Poges. But subject to site suitability, the Department for Education will not prevent a school serving one local authority being sited over the boundary in a local authority’s area.”
So, our Local MP concurs there is no NEED for a new school in South Bucks, but the DfE don’t care about that. Well they need to, because this flies directly in the face of Localism, and more specifically the difference between national and local taxation. More of that anon ….. for now, let’s say that Bucks County Council’s Education Cabinet member hasn’t expressed a view, but our Local MP is on the front foot. Thank you Dominic ….
