I didn't relish last night's Full Council meeting as I am currently ill and have almost lost my voice. Part of me therefore regretted having asked three councillor's questions in advance of the meeting which I then had to ask formally at the meeting -- where are we up to on getting food waste recycling, what is the Council doing on the issue of Maiden Erlegh catchment area changes and can we get the old disused toilet block in Palmer Park back into use.
I have copied my question and answer on Maiden Erlegh at the end of the post.
I think it is also worth commenting on the Labour's performance at the meeting. None of the 19 Labour councillors had submitted any councillor's questions. Later on in the meeting the Labour group asked to amend the Budget Savings Proposals recommendation motion. Voted to amend the motion. But then voted against the amended motion in the final vote. Confused? Finally at the end of the meeting the monitoring officer stated that the Standards Committee motion being moved by the Labour group was unconstitutional. To sum up, they didn't cover themselves in glory.
Back to my question on Maiden Erlegh, I asked the Lead Councillor for Education:
"What is the Council doing to ensure that Maiden Erlegh school remains an option for children in the south of Park Ward?
REPLY by Councillor Ralph (Lead Councillor for Education):
Maiden Erlegh School is a community school in Wokingham Borough. Wokingham Borough Council is the admission authority and has decided to consult on arrangements which initially indicated that Reading residents would not be able to get places in Maiden Erlegh School.
Reading Borough Council responded to an initial consultation stating that its preference was for the status quo to remain in place as the alteration proposed to the designated area for Maiden Erlegh would be likely to disadvantage Reading resident parents. Other suggestions were also made by the Council and others. Wokingham has now issued a formal consultation with a revised set of arrangements which reinstates the area of Park Ward previously excluded from Maiden Erlegh’s DA and offers an improved eligibility for siblings.
In response to the formal consultation on the amended proposals we have welcomed the shared designated area arrangements which provide the possibility of choice, and objected to the tie breaker as it is difficult for parents to understand, does not enable parents to establish the likelihood of gaining a place in Maiden Erlegh for September 2012 and disadvantages Reading resident parents. We have again stated that we would prefer the status quo to prevail or failing that a change to the tie breaker, back to straight line distance from Maiden Erlegh School.
The arrangements Wokingham is consulting on do not contravene any current legislation contained in the School Admissions Code 2010 so it is not possible to legally challenge their intentions, particularly as the arrangements are specific that Reading parents will have the choice of access to another Wokingham school, The Bulmershe, and areas of Wokingham Borough will be equally disadvantaged with the impacted part of Park Ward.
We will continue to work with neighbouring Local Authorities to ensure that there are sufficient places for Reading resident children either in Reading schools or, in this instance, Wokingham schools.
Since the last Labour administration failed to recognise, or admit, the seriousness of the pressure on school places until 2008, (despite lobbying by the Conservatives from 2005) or make adequate provision before the Labour government ran out of money, the potential for this administration to correct matters in the short term is limited.
In addition to sustained lobbying of Wokingham Borough Council, we are also exploring the potential for ‘free schools’ in the Borough (acknowledging the difficulties of securing private finance), while investing in the expansion of three Primary schools, within the constraints of the poor financial situation we have inherited.
Despite the somewhat impotent sabre rattling among Labour Councillors now, the fact is that Labour failed to act when first indications of this concern were apparent and according to my counterpart in Wokingham, my Labour predecessor made no attempt to phone, meet or reach any form of agreement. Labour failed to read key Minutes and asked only whether Reading children would still have access to Wokingham Schools. I am advised that the “clear answer was ‘yes they would’ and that remains the position today.”
They failed to specify ‘school places at Maiden Erlegh’!"
I am glad to see that the Conservatives are no longer saying that the current proposals from Wokingham are a "victory for dialogue" and that they are "pleased" and "delighted" with them. But there is still a long way to go!
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