24/11/08 - PS7 Campaign Update 3

Cllr Peter Stoddart & Cllr Justin Tomlinson

Two Rival Bids

You can view the two rival bids through the excellent Swindon Link article which can be found on:

http://www.swindonlink.com/news/show/825

Public Meeting – Tuesday November 25^th 6:30pm – Orchid Vale Primary School

Thank you to all those who have said they can attend tomorrows meeting.

A summary of the meeting is:

1 – OPM (Highly paid Government consultants) will set out the consultation process logistics.

2 – The 2 bids will set out their plans.

3 – Q&A session.

The key message is that if PS7 opened tomorrow, it could (would) be 100% full with local children from the Oakhurst area.  Any school that deviates from the standard admissions policy will leave local children unable to attend PS7.  Oakhurst has waited long enough for PS7, we need (and demand) 100% of the places.  The Swindon Council Community School bid for this reason has had 100% support of all the local residents who have contacted us.

In addition, is the rival bid really capable of running a school?  Do they have any experience?  Did they write their own bid or did the Government’s highly paid consultants write it for them?  What do they think will happen to those local children unable to get into their local school?

Consultation Feedback

Thank you to everyone who has sent in consultation feedback, we have been flooded with responses.  100% are in favour of the Swindon Council Community School bid.  Every single reply will be sent to the School Adjudicator and will add considerable weight to the SwindonCouncilCommunitySchool bid.

Media Coverage

We have had excellent coverage in Swindon Advertiser, Swindon Link & Radio Swindon.  This has helped keep the profile of the campaign up and I will continue to keep them in the loop throughout the consultation process.

Thank you to all the local residents who have helped put our case across – you have all done a sterling job, especially at such short notice!

Full Support

We are so angry the Labour Government (we even asked the Labour MP to help) refused to exempt us from the competition process, causing anger, frustration and concern for local residents. 

We as your Conservative Councillors will continue to lead on this campaign and do everything we can to make common sense is applied. 

If there is anything you like explaining, or if you have any suggestions for the campaign please do contact us – we are here to help.

Kind regards,

Cllr Justin Tomlinson

Cllr Vera Tomlinson

Cllr Peter Stoddart

http://www.abbeymeadsintouch.com/