Newsletter 17 Schools

Posted by Phil Hotchin
Posted in Uncategorised

Hi all,

At an early stage in the proceedings, we heard stories about parents in the proposed new housing being prohibited from accessing the popular Barugh Green primary School, even if this was an unsustainable approach. We tried to involve the school but were unable to get a response. We do know that the Head has been in touch with Spawforths, though.

A similar problem could affect Gawber Primary School, noting that the housing proposed for the land between Wharfedale Road and Colster Close is scheduled as “Phase 1” by Spawforths. The enclosed extract from their documentation shows their programme intentions for the whole site. The layout is slightly different compared to the other plan you’ll have seen, but the intentions are clear. Note that “Phase 1” starts Spring 2016.

The [incomplete] notes on the plan are taken from an earlier version but tell the story well enough. How about “Phase 1 also begins the construction of the Strategic Highway [the Road to Nowhere] with funding from the retail element enabling the highway to push deep into the site.” This is the road BMBC are starting work on NOW, a year before the Local Plan can be approved.

All this information has been available for a long time, but all we get in the Draft Local Plan Consultation is “Mixed Use”. the Government Inspector may have something to say about that.

Anyway, back to education. The educators won’t talk to us, but they should talk to you. They should be able to tell current and future parents how they would address the increase in population arising out of a successful Local Plan implementation. It’s a bit late in the day for the current phase of consultation (which is our fault for not thinking about this sooner, sorry) but they need to be able to reassure parents that they know what’s going to happen, eg in the case of Gawber, do they have the capacity to expand? Which of the Spawforths zones would be catchment areas for their schools, etc?

This is the page for the contact form for Gawber Primary School:

http://www.gawberprimaryschool.com/contact.php

Here’s the email address for Barugh Green Primary:

barugh.green@barnsley.org

Here’s the Education Dept. email address:

cyptrust@barnsley.gov.uk

Please contact these addressees and let us know what you get back.

Regards,

Ian Preddy

Representing Keep It Green 2014
http://www.area215barnsley.org.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/keepitgreen2014