Forum Topic

Expansion of Derwentwater Primary School

This is a huge issue for all families with school aged children in Acton as there are simple not enough primary school places for our growing population. All Acton's Primary Schools are being asked to take 'bulge' classes and while I have complete sympathy for parents who find that their children are without a place come September 2011, it's an outrage that Ealing Council are proposing to pack more children into already hugely populated schools. All the while allowing yet more housing developments to pass through planning. If you have a view on this please come and join the discussion at The Rocket Pub on Churchfield Road this Thursday 7th April at 7.45pm

Alex Watson ● 5646d20 Comments

Are portacabins back on the agenda?Would be a bit chutzpahdik if so seeing as the local Labour councillors got elected on the back of the fury about the proposal last time around.

Sara Nathan ● 5646d

Portacabins...think so, although we are yet to see the plans. But there's no space in the school, so I can't imagine what other solution they could have in mind. Yes, I voted for Patricia Walker and Abdullah Gulaid because of this very issue. Will be very disappointed if this goes ahead.

Alex Watson ● 5646d

Latest intelligence we have dug out of the council is that apparently the council accepted the promise of the developers of Bromyard Avenue that their development would have a a "low child yield". Strange then that those same developers boast about the proximity of East Acton and Derwentwater on their publicity. Surely the council haven't been duped again.For those of you who aren't keen on facebook, you can follow the new campaign videos here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgM1RIZ9fqk&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWf-zbpDIJE&feature=related

Charlie Mawer ● 5645d

"  Latest intelligence we have dug out of the council is that apparently the council accepted the promise of the developers of Bromyard Avenue that their development would have a a "low child yield".  "   Pricey Bromyard House " For the residents of Bromyard House, our only option is to move out, which is exactly what one of my neighbors did recently when his service charges reached £4250 per year. He could no longer afford this on top of his rent and mortgage repayments.  " 

Fred Bray ● 5645d

It looks like crunch time again for Ealing Council. Unless Ealing Council are about to veto all residential planning applications from now until eternity  ..... what they actually need is a new school in Acton. Spending millions tinkering with already overcrowded local primary schools looks set to waste vast amounts of money cramming extra kids into local schools for a short-term fix that no-one wants. In the long-term,  Acton's population seems likely to grow even further - with things like Crossrail etc boosting demand for housing and plenty of former industrial sites that could be built on. That's fine - as long as local services keep up. But at the moment "Ealing Council" and "joined-up thinking" are two phrases not often found in the same sentence. Every previous Ealing administration has had its car-crash moment. Labour stuffed itself with its support for the West London Tram, the Tories got themselves into massive tangle on the last attempt to expand local schools .... and now Labour seems to have found the same achilles heel ... and thats before secondary schools, nursery places etc start wandering into the cross-hairs And if someone says to you .... "its nothing to do with us - its all because of the birth-rate" ..... walk away. They are  delusional and probably a little dangerous.

Richard Grange ● 5645d

That birth rate bulge problem finally explainedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAejRY1iF3M

Charlie Mawer ● 5644d

And if it were the birth rate - as opposed to residential expansion, you could reckon to have five years to sort it out - that being the time it gets to grow to school agE- therefore being surprised and unplanned is wholly useless as a response

Sara Nathan ● 5644d

1050 extra places suddenly (and apparently unexpectedly) needed in Acton's primary schools.....What a cock up.And I love the bit about how developers have been promising that their flats will be "low-child yield" in order to get their planning applications through.What's that about?Has Ealing council suddenly decided to dip its toes into the ever-so-choppy waters of social engineering?Sheeesh! You couldn't make it up.

Richard Grange ● 5643d

How did the meeting go? Hope lots of people came.Any councillors?

Sara Nathan ● 5642d

Lots of people attended and all pretty united in opposition. No councillors but their mailboxes are about to start filling up.Clearly momentum is building particularly as people realise what the plans actually mean ..... including building a two-storey "temporary" classroom directly on top of the school's Global Garden.(For those who don't know the school, the Global Garden is an area of the playground that was specially landscaped after much fund-raising to try to make the school's play facilites more attractive for the kids. The irony is that not only will the plans put pressure on playground space - they will also build on top of the nicest play area in the whole school )

Richard Grange ● 5641d

But this fight was already fought and won pre-election. How can the council/councillors have teh brass neck to re-open it?

Sara Nathan ● 5641d

... because the problem hasn't gone away. The fact is there is a shortfall of 1050 primary places in no small measure because Ealing have failed to plan for the area's expanding population.Primary school kids are being asked to pay the price of Ealing Council's cack-handedness (unless of course you subscribe to their "birth-rate" argument (see above))...and the best they have got to offer is a short-term plan to squeeze as many kids as they can into already hard-pressed local schools.Their plan looks alarmingly like a temporary solution that might put a multi-million pound sticking plaster over the problem for a few years or so.But meanwhile they are dodging the big strategic question - that this area needs a new school. And in the process they are making a lot of people very very  cross.

Richard Grange ● 5641d

Of course it hasn't gone away....But there was a good gauge of public opinion, at least in Acton Central Ward, at the last election a year ago. So, having got in on the back of the revulsion at the previous plans by the previous administration, you would think they would be alert to the problem - especially as one of the councillors who got in as a result of the Derwentwater fury immediately became the post-holder for children and education. So far she has achieved the infuriating of the Town Hall team and the Priory groups by trying to renege on a commitment made on the relocation of the Priory groups during the redevelopment of the Town Hall buildings PLUS re-opening the Derwentwater angst. Doesn't look wholly thought through - or indeed politically astute - does it?

Sara Nathan ● 5641d

... the more you look the more the ironies keep on piling up and up..Consider this - not 100 yards  from the gates of Derwentwater Primary School, a planning application is being considered on April 20th to knock down the old Shakespeare Road Conservative club and replace it with FOUR new family houses.Perhaps the developers have re-assured the council that these houses will also have a "low-child yield"?.... (PS - anyone opposing the 89-91 Shakespeare Road planning application should feel free to make this point - ie that there are currently insufficient services to accommodate further local population growth)

Richard Grange ● 5639d

......and now it would appear that the electricity cabling cannot cope with the amount of present usage.    And no doubt the sewers will also come under pressure/as will the doctor's surgeries.  One has to wonder if the Planners are advising the Leader of the Council that all this development is a receipe for disaster.

Dee Cook ● 5638d

and as per the front page article:"London Councils has warned that the shortage of school places across the capital has become critical with a predicted shortfall of around 70,000 over the next four years.The shortage is largely concentrated in primary schools but begins to feed through into secondary schools in the 2014/15 school year."The problems being faced by Derwentwater will just be pushed on down the line.  Given that the crisis for secondary schools is expected in 4 years time, time for more schools to be built.

Kim Bobsin ● 5638d

.......where are all this children coming from?

Dee Cook ● 5637d

Did nobody ever explain Doris?That makes things much clearer!

Sara Nathan ● 5637d

Oh Doris you set yourself up for that one!:-)

Sarah Harris ● 5637d

I await a sensible response.  Are these children part of families which have just moved into the area over the past 6 months?In order for the Council to provide enough school places for children they need to know what is happening on the ground floor.  I know that often parents just 'turn up' on the school's doorstep expecting that a space will be available.  Are these possibly new migrants who do not understand the system of registration, etc?

Dee Cook ● 5636d