19 July 2004

OTTAWAY ALERTS MINISTER TO KESTON PRIMARY SCHOOL FUNDING SCANDAL

Richard Ottaway, Conservative MP for Croydon South, has expressed his anger at the Council's last minute withdrawal of funding promised for the amalgamation of Keston Infant and Junior Schools.

Richard Ottaway says:-

"It was the Council's decision to merge these two schools to create one primary
school and all the statutory procedures have been gone through. At a meeting
with parents the Council extolled the marvellous benefits of merger which would
include the removal of temporary huts and the provision of a new link corridor
between the school buildings. On this basis parents were only too pleased to
agree." Now, just a few days before work was to commence the Council have
pulled the plug on the promised funding and have deferred the whole project."

"The school is now caught in the trap of having its budget cut by £70,000, since it
is now deemed to be one school, but is having to spend money on refurbishing
the temporary structures which should by now have been consigned to the tip.
This is a disgraceful waste of public funds when £800,000 has already been
given to Croydon Council by the DfES for the improvements and a further
£300,000 was promised by the Council. Where has this money all gone?"

"This is a scandalous situation which undermines the confidence of staff and
parents. I am writing to the Minister to demand an explanation and referring the
entire matter to the Local Government Ombudsman."

ENDS

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