Cabinet protest over school closures

A major protest is expected at Hammersmith Town Hall on the evening of Monday 10 September when the Tory cabinet votes to close Peterborough Primary School and Gibbs Green Special School (see previous blogs).

The plans for primary schools are just a taste of what is to come for secondary schools following publication on Friday of the report by a so-called independent commission. Their recommendations threaten more uncertainty for all the borough's secondary schools with closures and privatisation on the cards.

Council leader's secret address

Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, Tory leader of Hammersmith & Fulham council, is to give a 'state of the borough' address on Wednesday 26 September. This should be of interest to all local residents but only a select group has been invited by the council to the event (with no invites for opposition councillors) and the venue is secret. This abuse of the public purse and democratic local government must be stopped.

hfconwatch invites you to suggest what Cllr Greenhalgh should include in his speech - please email: hfconwatch@hotmail.co.uk

Anyone for French lessons?

The Conservative cabinet in Hammersmith & Fulham is due to vote on proposals to close Peterborough Primary School on Monday 10 September. A major protest is expected at the meeting at Hammersmith Town Hall.

Peterborough's 106 year history in south Fulham (let alone the future of local children) seems to count for nothing now that the council is intent on doing a deal with the French government to create a fee-paying private school on the site.

Scaremongering or running scared?

In an extraordinary move, Tory H&F cabinet member Cllr Antony Lillis has written to 58 voluntary organisations in the borough saying that their council grant from this October (ie next month) is under threat.

Cllr Lillis blames a judicial review due in the high court on 26 September brought by three individuals concerned by the council's 60% cut in funding to Hammersmith & Fulham Law Centre.

By issuing threats to 58 organisations, Cllr Lillis is either trying to 'divide and rule' voluntary organisations - or he is seriously worried that the council will lose in the high court. In that case he should resign rather than threaten the future of many local organisations.

Cllr Lillis is also adamant there are no cuts in funding for the sector overall - just 'reprioritisation'. The truth is:
* overall funding for 2007-8 is £4.276 million but that hides a big cut within the year: from April-September funding is £2.345 million; from October-March it drops to £1.930 million with the new grants regime
* then in 2008-9 funding is slashed from £4.276 million to £3.182 million - a cut of 26% in one year!

Back Boris, get Greenhalgh?

Is Boris Johnson really Tory leader of H&F council, Stephen Greenhalgh, in disguise? At the launch of his bid to be the Conservatives' candidate for Mayor of London, Boris unveiled policies which sounded like a catalogue of failed political experiments from Hammersmith & Fulham. From the congestion charge to housing and policing, Boris has clearly been watching H&F Tories. So when will he announce his plans for huge cuts in London's public services?

Credit where credit's due?

Below is an email just received from a local resident:

In searching the H+F council website for remarks congratulating students on their successes in the recent GCSEs and A levels and thanking teachers and staff for their hard work in helping achieve these results, the only thing I could find were press releases announcing the closure of schools. Presumably the Conservative administration views schools simply as property assets to be sold off and are not aware that anything else goes on in them.

Yours, a concerned resident


Dear concerned resident

You may wish to attend the lobby about school closures at the town hall on Monday 3 September at 6.30pm. Ask the councillors why they have ignored the responses to their consultation on primary and special schools and plan to go ahead with school closures (see blogs below).

Later this week we will also hear what the Tories plan to do to secondary schools in the borough. hfconwatch this space...

hfconwatch

H&F gains notoriety as 'rotten borough'

Readers of this blog will be familiar with tales of Tory councillors awarding themselves 18% pay increases while cutting local services by £34 million. And with the Tories' chief backbench mouthpiece, Cllr Harry Phibbs.

Now they have all hit the national stage (again) in Private Eye's Rotten Boroughs column: 'World’s most unpleasant Young Conservative' put in charge of adoption in Hammersmith and Fulham (Private Eye, 28 August 2007 - not exactly news but it's well worth buying for the full story which is not available on the Private Eye website).

Will Cllr Phibber write one of his famous letters 'correcting' this august publication?

Watch this space - autumn cuts bonanza

It's business as usual at Tory Hammersmith & Fulham council. Not content with wrecking local schools (see previous blogs), many more cuts in local services have been lined up this autumn.

The voluntary sector will see the full brunt of recent cuts in grants from this October and more cuts are due shortly. A campaign meeting takes place on Thursday 6 September at 6.30pm at Shepherds Bush Village Hall, 58 Bulwer Street, W12. Further news is expected in the High Court on 26 September about the judicial review of the council's 60% cut in funding to the Law Centre.

Also coming soon from the council and in no particular order are:
- hikes in charges for vulnerable adults using social care following the council's backdown earlier this year and contrary to the Tories' manifesto
- cuts in adult education as a new year starts and the closure of the Munster Centre for budding cooks
- more cuts in local library services and higher fees already in place, for example if you want to use the computers in libraries
- privatisation of all the services for what was once a smarter borougher - refuse collection, street cleaning, grounds maintenance and so on - as the streets get dirtier and dirtier
- more cuts in services for older people and warden support in sheltered housing schemes
- new controversy over plans for changed use of Bishops Park

Not everything is getting cut. The Tory cabinet is soon to agree an increase in the fees for the consultants working on 'the civic accommodation project'. Now there's a surprise!

Tories promise schools more of the same

Any hopes that Hammersmith & Fulham's Conservative council will turn over at least one new leaf this autumn have been swiftly dashed.

Already the Tories have sneaked out plans in the summer holidays to close more schools. Despite huge opposition during the consultation earlier this summer, the Tories are to go ahead with the closure of Peterborough Primary School in south Fulham.

The Tory cabinet can expect a barrage of protest from Peterborough parents and the local community when the decision is discussed on 10 September. To rub salt into parents' wounds, the council is talking to the French government no less about opening a new private school on the site following the closure of Peterborough in 2008.

A huge shake-up in special schools is also on the cards, with Gibbs Green school set to close.

All this sets the scene for the forthcoming report from the council's much vaunted Secondary Schools Commission. Due out shortly, the report is expected to recommend more cuts in local education in the south of the borough.

Wanted: more news about Tory cuts

If you have any news, stories or evidence about cuts being made by the Conservative council in Hammersmith & Fulham, please email: hfconwatch@hotmail.co.uk

The next blog will be a bumper cuts edition in late August. As Elvis Costello used to sing, we are watching the Conservatives.