No temporary school for September 2014
The Enfield Advertiser reports that the council has dropped plans for a temporary primary school from September 2014 on a site in the Southgate area. Despite it having been reported earlier that the council had made a cast iron pledge to create 60 extra places this year, it now seems that council has dropped this, as they were able to find primary places for all children in the borough who applied before the deadline. This has brought forth a dusty reaction from parents in "dead areas" who are unable to get their children into their nearest school; they are then further penalised by the admissions system as the children may have to go to a school with vacancies some distance away.
What does this mean for the proposed Grovelands primary school? We do not know. The council may have succeeded (in its own terms) this year but this does not mean that the projected large growth in the population of primary school age is going away. New schools will still be needed somewhere at some stage but the issue is where this can be done with the least damage to neighbourhoods and important assets such as the Grovelands park and estate. Perhaps the delay will also give the council the opportunity to look in more detail at where the need is greatest, which should influence where schools are located. Using the council's own figures, pressure appears to be greatest at the southern edge of South West Enfield, where the extensive North Circular Road redevelopments are taking place, not around the existing Southgate cluster of primary schools. Yes, there are problems for parents in "dead areas" but the council needs to balance these against the numbers of parents likely to be in difficulties elsewhere.
Bourneside Herald - A Joint School and Community Sports Facility?
The May edition of the Bourneside Herald had come through our letterboxes in thr third week of May, This confused us. It appeared to propose a joint primary school and community sports facility on the Bourneside Sports Ground. Quite how this ws supposed to fit in is unclear, when even a primary on its own would need to encroach onto Priory-owned land. However, following a meeting of the Friends of Bourneside Sports Ground on 21st May at 7pm, it is clear that the Friends do NOT support a school on the site. GRA and the Friends haev issued a joint statement - see below.
Historic Parks Survey
Several committee members met with the consultant at the beginning of May. We believe that we got our views across, but we now have to wait for the outcome.
Fears Grow for Grovelands Land
The Grovelands Residents' Association and the Friends of Bourneside Sports Ground have issued a joint statement as follows:-
"We are increasingly concerned about the fate of open land on and around the Bourneside site, part of the historic Grovelands estate. A plan of the site made available by the council has mystified us by describing part of the council-owned portion of the site as having “no public accessibility”.
We are of course aware of council plans for a primary school on part of the site. We stand together opposing this. Better sites are available to meet the undoubted educational need with a less destructive impact. The land should be revitalised to retain and enhance its existing sporting use.
However, the attempt to earmark the rest of the site (adjoining Queen Elizabeth’s Drive) as having no public accessibility is of great concern to us. Local residents have been using that part of the land for many years without any hindrance, in the same way that they have used the land on which a school would be situated. We fear that the move is intended to make it easier to sell the land for some form of development in the future, over and above the proposed school, completely changing the nature of the area.
Southgate has lost too much open space over the years, not least the former school playing fields at Minchenden. We should protect and nurture our remaining green space along with the wildlife and recreational needs that depend upon it."
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