Ventnor Blog

Thanks to Melanie Swan for sending through this press release which has just been issued. We’re sure that our readers will be very interested to read the following. Ed

Today, Monday, Councillors confirmed that Members, from all political parties, are supporting a motion put forward by Councillor Patrick Joyce last Friday.

The Motion, to be debated at next week’s Full Council, is intended to halt the controversial and divisive education consultation, in which all Options put forward by the Council involve mass school closures.

It will require Council Officers to find another way to manage surplus school places, which does not result in such damaging closures.

The announcement follows two more historic rallies in Ryde and Sandown at the weekend, where hundreds of protesters marched in support of Island schools threatened with closure.

Cllr Joyce said “Members are in danger of ignoring Island residents’ deeply held concerns for their children and their communities. Some Councillors may think they can ‘save’ their local schools but they don’t realise that all they can do is set the policy. It will be the School Adjudicator who makes the final decision on which schools stay open, not Councillors.

There is a place for leadership by Elected Members, but this process is deeply divisive, setting community against community, school against school. People feel that the Council is riding roughshod over the wishes of the electorate.”

Cllr Melanie Swan said that she was concerned to learn from some protesters that they had only received a handful of responses to emails they sent to all Councillors and hadn’t had even an acknowledgment from Cllrs Pugh and Wells. “Alan Wells and David Pugh said they missed the historic rally in Newport on 26th January to catch up with emails.

My own enquiries give me little faith that residents are really getting proper responses from them. Any Councillor, myself included, may miss some correspondence when responses are so overwhelming, but not to this damning extent. People feel that their fears for their children, their work and their communities are being ignored. This just compounds that perception.”

The Motion under Procedural Rule 17

“In view of the widespread public concern and as the Isle of Wight Council had not received guidance from the DCSF on any issues of concern to be addressed by the Primary Capital Programme by 31st January, Council resolves to abandon the current informal consultation on education reorganisation.

Council also instructs the Cabinet member for Children & Young People to secure from officers a plan and consultation proposals for managing surplus school places that does not result in mass school closures and damage to local communities.”

A Motion under procedural Rule 17 requires 12 Councillors to give written support for it to be debated at Council

Motion proposed by Cllr Patrick Joyce. Supported by Cllrs: Adams, Arnold, Bishop, Bowker, Chapman, Churchman, Foster, Gardiner, Humby, Knowles, Lumley, Mc Robert, Mosdell, Price and Swan

Education