We’re now a couple of weeks into 2014, and as always things are moving on.
Firstly, the timetable for the new planning application is starting to become a bit clearer. Currently it looks as if the first planning application may not be submitted until the autumn, with a decision by the council not until early 2015. We also understand from the planning team at Wokingham Borough Council that they are having frequent meetings with the consortium team, and that the consortium is proposing to talk to neighbouring authorities such as Hampshire County Council and Bracknell Forest Borough Council about the effects of the development.
We see all of this as positive news. Those of you who live in and around the Garrison will have seen quite a lot of the consortium surveyor team, who have been tasked with producing an up to date topographic map of the whole site, this along with the longer timescales seems to be showing much more of a commitment to getting the plans right first time. We also must commend the continuing efforts of Tracey, Matt and the team at Wokingham in keeping in close contact with the consortium to ensure we get a good, coherent and properly thought out application this time around. We’re particularly pleased to hear that the consortium will be talking to neighbouring authorities as our friends in Eversley Matters were decidedly unimpressed by the “not our problem” response most of them got from consortium representatives at the exhibition of the previous plans last year when they asked about traffic mitigation through Eversley village.
The other area where matters are moving on is in relation to the school provision.
Before dealing with what has been happening, it is really important to clarify the AG-RAG position on the school, in particular in relation to the South of Wokingham Free School Group as there seems to have been some confusion of late.
Whilst the South of Wokingham Free School Group was started by members of AG-RAG, it is not part of AG-RAG and never has been. Although we have highlighted, and will continue to highlight the issues around schools, and for some of our members with children it is a critical issue, other members have had concerns about the effect of introducing a free school into the equation, especially given that the Department for Education seems to favour converting existing buildings for free schools, and the lack of control other free school groups seem to have over school placement – the Slough Sikh school for example that the DfE has forced into Stoke Poges over the objections of local residents in a different county from where the need exists! The membership of the free school group includes a number of people who have no involvement at all with AG-RAG, and similarly there many members of AG-RAG for whom schools are not a major concern, and for whom the disruptive prospect of the DfE placing the school somewhere else is much more of an issue. As such the members keen on the free school idea were asked to set up a separate group. We have highlighted what they are doing, but this has primarily been because what they are proposing affects the wider development – AG-RAG is, and always has been about highlighting what is going on to local residents, and making sure their voice gets heard.
As far as AG-RAG is concerned, the implication from Wokingham Borough Council and others that a parent led free school group could essentially deliver the same school plan built into the SDL plans ahead of when Wokingham Borough could, and drawing on a different pot of money is highly misleading, and shows a worrying lack of comprehension of how the free school process actually works and the different pressures that a parent led free school compared to a council commissioned academy would face. For anyone interested in more detail, the book How To Set Up a Free School by Toby Young
As we highlighted in our newsletter at the end of 2013, going the free school route is inherently risky. However thanks to the many slips in the date on which a site for a school might be available, and the continual failure over many, many years by Wokingham Borough Council to actually address the issue of a school in the south of the borough with action rather than discussion, it is a very real issue. For those parents whose children will be transferring to secondary school over the next few years the lack of a local school is going to increasingly lead to their children being placed in distant schools as their children get excluded by the distance based tie breaker from their chosen schools. As such those parents feel they have no choice but to push forward with a school for the benefit of their children. AG-RAG will continue to highlight both the free school group progress, and the official council meetings, but will also be highlighting the inherent risks of encouraging provision of a school through the free school route whilst trying to produce a coherently planned vision for the future of the whole garrison site.
Having said all that, the council has organised another parent meeting for this Thursday, 23rd January, between 7:30pm and 9:30pm at the Finchampstead Baptist Centre, to discuss the issues around school provision. It is an open meeting, however the council are asking attendees to book a place at the meeting by emailing admissions.review@wokingham.gov.uk or calling (0118) 974 6105. The council has made a major effort to get word about this meeting out, with flyers being issued at all the affected primary schools in the area, and also issuing details via parish councils and online. We would encourage any parents to attend this meeting and put forward your views on how you want your children educated, and where.
The South of Wokingham Free School Group now have their own website with details of their current plans, although we can obviously pass on any contacts or questions about the free school from the various AG-RAG communication channels, we would recommend contacting them directly with any questions or concerns. As highlighted in this weeks Wokingham Times, and on local radio, the group has issued a detailed forty page framework document which was sent to all stakeholders before Christmas, and has now been published more widely through their Facebook group. Again we would encourage any affected parents to join this group and engage with the free school group.
