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Cabinet must reconsider schools decision
August 11, 2010 1:40 PM
Councillors Steve Hedges, Paul Crossley and Tim Ball.
The B&NES Council Cabinet will be forced to meet and reconsider its decision to start the process of closing Culverhay school after a crucial vote on a formal challenge last night.
The B&NES children and young people overview and scrutiny panel agreed by seven votes in favour to none against that the Cabinet should look again at the Bath secondary schools review. Panel members questioned the Cabinet member for Children's services as well as Councillors and public speakers for over three hours to determine whether the Cabinet took all the right factors into account when making their decision.
27 B&NES Councillors signed the call in request which was led by Councillor Paul Crossley. Councillor Crossley (Southdown) said:
"Last night's meeting just went to prove that the Cabinet has allowed outside developments to drive the secondary schools review, rather than trying to understand what is really needed in Bath.
"With so much change happening currently, I believe the Cabinet should suspend any process for the time being to await the outcome of legislative changes, the Oldfield application and the federation proposal between two Bath schools.
"The campaigners to save Culverhay would refute the Cabinet member's allegation that the community has turned its back on the school; the community wants Culverhay to be coeducational so it can genuinely meet the needs of local people."
Councillor Nathan Hartley (Peasedown), Liberal Democrat shadow cabinet member for children's services, added:
"It's a disappointment that all members of the panel did not back my proposal to refer this important matter to full Council for consideration. I believe that big decisions like this, such as closing a school, need to be addressed by as many councillors as possible, from all political parties.
"Despite that, I am pleased the panel saw sense to uphold the call-in, meaning the Cabinet needs to review its decision. It's really important that before the Cabinet member decides finally he addresses some of the key concerns the Liberal Democrats have, such as the impact on public transport relocated pupils will have, and what hard evidence there is that the boys from Culverhay will do better in another school."
NOTES:
The Councillors sitting on the panel were: Sally Davis, Marie Longstaff, Shirley Steel, Nathan Hartley, Dine Romero, Ian Gilchrist (substitute for Marian McNeir), and John Bull. There were also two Statutory Co-opted (Voting) Members: David Williams (Diocese of Bath and Wells), and Tess Daly (Diocese of Clifton).
There were two motions moved at the panel meeting. The first motion was moved by Councillor Nathan Hartley (Liberal Democrat) and seconded by Councillor John Bull (Labour). This motion sought to refer the scrutiny of this issue to Full Council on 9th September 2010. The reasons given were:
- All Councillors should have the chance to have their say on a big decision like this (after all, 27 signed the call in);
- More information was needed on the cost of closing Culverhay;
- The Cabinet Member needed to provide more information on projection pupil numbers for the future;
- The Cabinet Member needed to provide hard factual evidence that the pupils at Culverhay would do better elsewhere;
- We needed information on the impact this move would have on travel/transport/traffic in the City.
This motion was rejected by the panel by 5 votes in favour to 4 against.
The second motion, moved by Councillor Marie Longstaff (Conservative) and seconded by Councillor x (), was to uphold the call in for the following reasons:
- The consultation had not been sufficiently clear about the proposals for Culverhay School;
- The impact of changes in legislation was uncertain especially in relation to Academies and Oldfield School;
- The Federation of St Gregory's Catholic School and St Mark's CofE School was at an early and uncertain stage;
- The costs associated with the closure of Culverhay School and future options for the site needed greater clarification.
This motion was adopted by 7 votes in favour to 0 against and 2 abstentions. A Special Cabinet meeting will now take place for the Cabinet to consider its response to the panel's recommendations. The Cabinet meeting will take place on Wednesday 18th August at 5 p.m. in the Guildhall.
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