Park Progress and Refreshment Rage

Just a quick blog by way of update…

Happily, there is some great news from the CHAD Park Partnership. The builders have now moved on site to start the new Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) at the side of Gladstone Primary and it should be completed in a couple of months. The MUGA will include 5 a side and basketball equipment, and will also be marked out for other sports. It’ll have two gates, one attached to the school and one accessible for the public. During school hours the court will be exclusively for the use of Gladstone, but out of hours it will be accessible for the whole of the community to use.

The project has been made possible thanks to pro bono work by Mansell (the Gladstone School building contractors) with match funding raised from grants and ward budget bids by Partnership Chair, Sue Rammell and the school’s Youth Forum. The really great thing about the scheme is that it has been made possible by the whole community coming together to drive it forward: young people, parents, grandparents and councillors. However special credit needs to be given to Sue Rammell and Dave Eaglestone (Gladstone School Build Manager) whose tireless efforts and negotiations with the Sport England, City Planners and Funding Bodies are finally paying off.

And things get better – thanks to resources that have been made available the MUGA will now also feature a lighting system that will make it useable all year round. Also, work is beginning for a new under 10s play area at Anchor Road Rec. People who know the area will know the shocking state of the play equipment there – now a new naturalised play park is being installed using play-builder finance.

Also I think its worth mentioning a leading story in the Sentinel this week, regarding proposed savings from cutting the refreshments at meetings at the civic. http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/TEA-BISCUITS-FACING-163-20k-CUT/article-1701221-detail/article.html Cllr Kieran Clarke thinks that £20k can be saved by introducing a ‘refreshments policy’. That got me thinking about a couple of things.

Firstly, which meetings have refreshments to that value in the first place? I’ve never even seen coffee and tea at O&S meetings!

Secondly, and more to the point, why is a ‘policy’ being considered? When cutting valued services across the city and cherished facilities are being put forward by the Cabinet, it should go without saying that drinks and butties at the Civic be cut back completely. I was also a little bemused by the outraged responses of the Councillors that commented in the Sentinel’s coverage. Difficult budgetary decisions will have to be made in the coming months, but before I’m asked to vote on a closure for Tunstall or Shelton Pool I want to know that everything has been done to trim the fat in the authority. Perks for Members and Officers like snacks at meetings should be first on the chopping block, so let’s not shilly-shally around with a ‘refreshments policy’.

Park Hall Academy shows promise

I attended the Park Hall Academy consultation event tonight at Longton Town Hall led by Ian Kendrick from the Children and Young People Directorate along with representatives from the academy sponsor (Stoke-on-Trent College) and the predecessor schools’ senior management teams (Edensor and Mitchell). The event was also attended by a good number of parents and interested residents from the communities which the new academy will serve.

The Building Schools for the Future Programme has been fraught with controversy here in Stoke. However, from this meeting I sensed a measured enthusiasm for the principles of the reorganisation and for the proposal on the table.

A few parents were angry about a shortcoming in the admissions process this year. They were understandably not satisfied with their school allocations which bore no resemblance to their applications, hopefully however this will be rectified through appeal. This issue, partly affecting families that live the Meir Hay area of my ward is something that I had already raised with the Director of Children’s Services.

With that exception it appeared to me that peoples’ main worry with the Park Hall Academy was the timescale – were their children going to be in the generation that benefited. Given the history and tumult surrounding of the process you can truly appreciate that worry and the desire to just get on and build the thing!

Other than that there was a good deal of information disseminated which addressed attendee’s other concerns – some outline details of what the new academy will be like were set out.Two of my principle apprehensions were laid to rest.

The first was safe routes to and from the academy – I really worry that Anchor Rd in its current form is neither safe enough nor fit to cope with additional transport associated with an academy. I was reassured that measures will be put in place, in the first instance a detailed study commissioned by the council to be conducted by Mott McDonald. This is a company with good and well renowned pedigree and expertise in this area. This anxiety was shared by many parents and I think we will all await the results of Mott McDonald’s work with interest.

The second, interestingly for me, was not raised by one single parent as one of their concerns. I’m talking about the governance arrangements for the new academy. This is cited as the principle bug bear by the anti-academies lobby, but it doesn’t seem to greatly worry most people. I was very encouraged that the sponsor wished to emphasise that the academy would be led by the community – including via governorships.

This was especially pleasing for me, as I had had reservations that the statutory requirement of one parent governor would be insufficient as the sole extent of community representation on the new governing body. Happily, the sponsor was keen to indicate that such under representation would not occur. Working with the community I am now certain that the Stoke-on-Trent College as sponsor will get the balance of representation right on the governing body when the academy’s constitution is drafted.

Like many parents, I want to see bricks a mortar as soon as possible, but only if the plans are right. The devil is in the detail and parents need to be fully informed of that detail. I eagerly await the publications of draft building, transition, and transport plans & the proposed constitution.