Your Gipsy Hill

Carl, Kemi, Andrew and Suzanne: Demanding action on school places

After four years of empty promises from Labour Lambeth only Conservatives can offer new thinking on school places

Four years after being elected, Lambeth’s Labour-run council has failed to confirm the site for a much needed primary school in Norwood.

Carl, Andrew, Suzanne and Kemi say ‘enough is enough’. They are demanding Lambeth Council guarantees a new primary school no later than September 2011 by opening on a temporary site and moving to a permanent location two years later.

Last year, local Conservatives suggested a suitable site close to West Norwood town centre. But Labour-run Lambeth rejected their proposal – preferring a cash and carry instead.

To make matters worse, there is a £10 million black hole in Lambeth’s current plans. Because Labour councillors failed to set aside land for a school the Government has only promised half the money needed for new places. Tory Wandsworth had better plans and secured the full amount.

“Lambeth Labour is letting down local families,” says Suzanne. “A new school could open in 2011, but action is needed now. Currently many local children are being denied a school place of their choice. Sometimes they aren’t offered a suitable place at all.”

Kemi: We need schools, not a cash and carry

Kemi Adegoke, Norwood’s Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, says: “Lambeth must put children’s education first, but the New Labour MP has failed to speak out against the Council’s failure to get a site for a new school.”

“Conservatives agree with parents: We need to plan ahead and provide space for more schools.”

Nationally, a Conservative Government support schools set up by parents if they wish to do so and remove obstacles that delay them. A parent-run school has already opened in Lambeth at the Elm Green School – a UK “first” – with support from local Conservatives. We want to see more initiatives like this to improve access to schools that reflect local demand.

Sign our petition for a new primary school for Norwood…