With less than 60 pupils across Years 7 and 8 since opening in September 2013 the Route 39 organisers are still pressing for planning permission for a 11-18 school of 700 places in an area of outstanding natural beauty with over 1000 places still available across the 4 existing secondary schools. The planning application is likely to be heard in early June by Torridge District Council planning committee, but only environmental reasons are admissible. Given the news about Free Schools nationally this week, it seems illogical in the extreme. Any advice and support in trying to prevent this waste of public money welcome, as we prepare our opposition case.
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Route 39 hopes its permanent site will be on Steart Farm which is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). There are traffic concerns to the site and its development may contradict the National Planning Policy Framework which gives AONB land the highest "status of protection" regarding landscape.
UPDATE 11.19am Just found this letter from Natural England to Torridge District Council objecting to the proposal.
So much for localism when SoSs make comments about planning matters before planning permission has been decided.
As you say, David, Route 39 opened in September 2013 and as a trade unionist, I feel very uncomfortable about this website being used to campaign for an existing school to be closed and its teachers sacked. The students, parents and staff at this school have rights and they should not be written off as the political equivalent of
"collateral damage". That would be totally wrong in my view.
Where a free school is opened in an area where there is already is a surplus of places that can make existing schools less viable and certainly less well funded. What about the teachers and other employees in those schools whose jobs become at risk. How does a 'trade unionist' respond to that ... survival of the fittest maybe, although bear in mind that the cards are very much stacked, by the government, in favour of free schools?
Jayne - this thread is about planning permission for the permanent site. Nothing has been said about closing an existing school or sacking teachers. That's a straw man argument.
Would your stance be any different, if you knew I had had to make staff redundant in 2012-13 because of the 12 pupils I "lost" to Route 39? Loyal colleagues, who lost so much, because of this illogical school. It's Hobson's choice as to whether they or I will have to mkae further staff redundant.
Unenviable position seems such a lame and empty observation. I wonder whether Jayne has any additional comment in her trade unionist hat about the unnecessary and avoidable job losses you were forced into by the decision to approve Route 39?
National Trust expressing concern whether the development is justified;
North Devon Coast AONB - "profound concern";
Devon Wildlife Trust - concern re the proposal to discharge treated foul water into a stream which runs through a County Wildlife Site
CPRE - "no rational need" for the development.
All documents can be downloaded here.
The whole scenario appears to support the LibDem opposition to the reallocation of £400m from funding to support LAs in need of extra places to the Free School programme. This makes me wonder whether the media may also be interested in this.
Protecting the rights of employees is always a necessary and sometimes laudable goal in our society but presumably the case becomes fraught with tensions and contradictions if the job that were created arose from erroneous ideological party political gerrymandering, and if these jobs were to be maintained could cost jobs at existing schools in the event of falling rolls caused by the opening of an unnecessary Free School (i.e. where there was already adequate pre-existing capacity at 'Good' schools).
What would be interesting to know is what schools were placed as second choice on the parents preference form (if indeed they expressed a preference for the alternative maintained schools ...or was private education the next option?).
I can't gloat at the founders for such a poor enrolment after all their work ..but you can't say they weren't warned and should have been thoroughly appraised of the ethics of the matter.
And congratulations to the community spirit of parents who . offered a posturing alternative , chose to back their local maintained school.
The Route 39 impact assessment released on the DfE website this afternoon uses "as the crow flies" for a school to be situated on the coast and assumes boat travel across Bideford Bay for school transport. It includes schools in Barnstaple 33 miles away, but not Bude, 9 miles away. It also says in bold that there will be an impact on the finacnial viability of Great Torrington and Holsworthy schools i.e. we may have to close. It also uses a single attainment measure from Summer 2012 as the sole criteria and is now woefully out of date. if it wasn't so important it would be funny.
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