"Good evening,
My name is Isobel Ballsdon. I
represent Mapledurham Ward. I am joined by Cllr Ed Hopper who is one of the
three councillors for the neighbouring Thames ward.
We have called this meeting to
hear the views of Thames and Mapledurham ward residents. Tonight was the first possible opportunity to
hold this meeting.
Before I go into our
objectives I would like to thank the church wardens who have been incredibly
supportive and gone to a lot of trouble to prepare for the meeting. As I was
given a reduced rate to hire the church I hope you will consider making a donation
towards the church's funds. Gift Aid envelopes are available to increase
the value of your donation if you so wish and the donations bowl is at the back
of the church.
The objective in the first
instance is to listen to your views about the news on 5 June that the Education
Funding Agency has bought the site on Upper Warren Avenue for the permanent
home of The Heights primary school.
In addition we hope to be
able to provide answers to some of your questions. Anything we can’t answer we
will take away and put to the relevant authorities.
To explain the process by
which the point has been reached where the EFA has purchased the site
(i)
A group of
wonderful and inspirational residents made a detailed bid for a primary free
school to serve the west of Caversham
(ii)
(ii) The DfE
determined through consultation, including consultation with the Council, that
there was a justifiable demand for a school in the Heights catchment area and,
having satisfied themselves that there was indeed a demand, they then
instructed the EFA to find and purchase a site within the catchment area.
The EFA is an independent arm
of the DfE and has not consulted with the councillors or the MP or the council,
though they will have asked the Council if they owned any land in the catchment
area which they were prepared to offer.
We hope it may be possible for
us as a community to work towards a shared goal: namely to deliver the primary
school that a generation has needed and that generations to come will benefit
from, to ensure our community thrives.
In attendance we have:
Kevin McDaniel - Head
of Education, Reading Borough Council (RBC)
Cllr John Ennis - The
Labour administration’s Lead for Education, RBC
Dan Pagella - The
Heights primary school, parent group’s land adviser
Karen Edwards - Head
teacher, The Heights
Mark Richards - Chair
of Governors, The Heights
The Education Funding Agency (EFA)
does not send representatives to attend public meetings before it has
information on which to consult, eg outline plans to share about any free
school project.
To ensure transparency for
the planning process, Reading Borough Council is not sending representatives
from Highways nor Planning.
I am delighted that it has
been possible for Rob Wilson, our local Member of Parliament, to join us
tonight and he will be chairing the meeting."
