From the Canal to Sevenways

Academy Call-in Response

We’ve just received word that call in has been allowed. Parents and other interested parties haven’t got long to get submissions in. The working deadline for submissions to this call-in is Tuesday 23rd March. It may be possible to submit til Thursday but much better if the submissions are by Tuesday. (Just a reminder that the decision being called in is the decision to begin the process to close the two schools)

Dear Councillor / Colleague –
Please note that Councillor Mrs. Reilly, as Chairman of Overview & Scrutiny Core Committee, has agreed that the above decision be called in for scrutiny by the Overview & Scrutiny Core Committee. A copy of the call-in proforma is attached, for information, along with the decision report and decision statement, for ease of reference.
In view of the required timescale for hearing the call-in and a range of other scheduled meetings and logistic considerations, the options for the timing of this meeting are extremely constrained. It is therefore envisaged that the meeting will take place on Monday 29th March, at 6.30 p.m. I would be very grateful if Members of the Committee could confirm their availability.
The venue for the meeting is likely to be Flixton House; this will be confirmed in due course. Further details, agenda papers, etc., will be circulated in the usual way.
I am advised that members of the public will not be allowed to address the meeting; but that if written representations are submitted in advance they will be made available for the Committee’s consideration. Any such representations should be forwarded to the Scrutiny Office at TTH by the afternoon of Tuesday 23rd March to enable them to be included with the initial agenda distribution. It will be possible for additional items to be circulated as “to follow” papers provided they are received in the Scrutiny Office by 12.00 noon on Thursday 25th March at the very latest. Please note that any such representations are to be considered in a public forum; it is envisaged that they will be in the public domain, and their content should therefore avoid anything inappropriate for the public domain.
Regards –

Mike Cordingley

Dave Acton
Call in Proforma Response
Decision being called in
Executive Decision

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  1. Lucinda Peart avatar
    Lucinda Peart

    Please could you submit the following consideration. The consultation document and appendix suggests that approximately half of Gorse Hill Park will be ‘allocated’ to the Academy and that access ‘will be given’ to the local community at weekends/evenings. The local community, who have enjoyed free access to all of Gorse Hill Park since 1923 do not appear to have been informed of these considerations, let alone been consulted on them. It would not be unreasonable to suggest that suspicions are raised that the said area (Site C) will be secured for the protection of the students and therefore access denied to those who have had free access for many years and that any access may be considered by means of forward application and keyholding (apart from the issue of restricted hours). Natural progression from this would be subsequent sale to private concerns and loss of green accessible space as has been the case for the previous land owned by the school (site B). In the openspace update document prepared by GL Hearn for Vicky Moran inn answers to her email to Nik Wheeler on 8th Jan 2010 (doc date 19 January 2010), justification is made for the sale of site B on the basis that having been neglected, the site is only used for ‘dog walking and match day parking’ so offers no community benefit. So, following the loss of this space from the school and the LA who have made no attempts to maintain the area, to LCCC/Tesco, a new proposition to create a ‘sports academy’ is founded on the basis of acquiring public space to the same ends. This, in our opinion’ does not benefit the community at all- in fact it is depriving the community of a wanted and previously much used facility. In referring to ‘previously much used’, this has been thrust upon us by the fencing off of previously open land, however as there appears to have been no consultation or legal basis in the fencing off over the last few years, and access is possible as the gates are unlocked, but no longer inviting as an ‘open space’. We now suspect this has been a deliberate attempt to deter the community from using the space, so as to lessen the impact of it being ‘acquired’ for the academy and ultimately the LCCC/Tesco development. It has been suggested by some older residents of the ward that the area of Gorse Hill Park was bequeathed to the people of the community and that a covenant in the title confirms this, which would mean that it does not ‘belong’ to the LA to allocate use. However we have no evidence of this to hand- is there any possibility that this aspect could be checked by the councillors?

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  2. Stephanie Rowland avatar
    Stephanie Rowland

    Gorse Hill Park belongs to the residents of Gorse Hill, or so we thought, how can part of the park be used for this Academy. Alot of dog walkers use this part of the part as it is fenced off we can walk our dogs without them being a hinderance to children in the park. This is just discusting that it can be taken away just like that, is this not steeling???

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