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In theeight years I have been a Councillor I have never seen anything as shambolic as the public meeting organised by the Government's highly paid consultants.
We had worked extremely hard to make sure local residents were consulted aboutfor the two rival proposals which are being considered to run PS7 (Swindon Council Community Schooland the Al Habid Faith School).
The Al Habid bid was at best vague, at worst woefully unprepared. This is seriousas they potentially could be running PS7 in a matter of months. Throughout their presentation and subsequent question and answer session they failed to address the genuine concerns of local residents - simply dismissing them out of hand. In particular they wrongly claimed there was not sufficient demand for the school from local parents (despite proof the school would not only be full in the future, but would have been for the last two years!).
As residents asked repeated questions of the Al Habid bid,the Government consultants tried to either answer on their behalf, or refuse to accept questions - frankly nothing short of a disgrace.
As frustrations grew I took my chance to directly ask the Al Habid bid to withdraw. It is cleartheir bid is inappropriate, unprepared and has no support from local residents. I asked him to withdraw to end the anger, frustration and anxiety being caused to parents who will have to wait to early 2009 for a final decision to be made. My request was dismissed as they seemed determined to enjoy their 15 minutes of fame.
At the end of the meeting a straw poll was taken to test the reaction of the meeting, with the Swindon Council community bid gaining overwhelming support.
It is essential local residents have their say, please do so by filling in our online form:
http://www.abbeymeadsintouch.com/page/15/
The Swindon Link have once again written an excellent article on this meeting: