How the West London Free School was found a building at the expense of children with special educational needs

On 17 January, Tory Hammersmith & Fulham Council announced that it was giving the Bryony Centre in White City to the West London Free School for two years until Palingswick House in Ravenscourt Park was ready. In doing so, it dashed the hopes of some of the borough’s most vulnerable children. This is what we gather happened.

Until Michael Gove cancelled the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme last July, Hammersmith’s Cambridge School, which educates children with special educational needs, was expecting to move out of its current, insufficiently accessible building into the Bryony Centre, which was going to be rebuilt and made fully accessible. In preparation, the existing adult education courses were relocated out of the Bryony, which was left empty.

The received wisdom has been that the end of BSF meant the end of all of Hammersmith’s £207 million plans for 13 schools across the borough. But this was not the whole story. As the council explained at the time, "Town hall education chiefs will now begin to work with schools and the Department for Education on a revised affordable capital programme for primary, secondary, special and post-16 provision in the borough".

For Cambridge School, we understand this meant the opening of behind-the-scenes discussions with H&F education officials on developing a lower-cost scheme to enable the move to the Bryony still to go ahead.

 

Discussions were continuing and hopes were still high right up until 17 January, when the council took the sudden decision to offer the Bryony to the West London Free School for two years instead.

The latest issue of H&F News (25 January) confirms this. Not directly but clearly enough. A front page piece refers to the free school being “temporarily based” at the Bryony Centre and makes the apparently innocuous comment: “The Bryony is earmarked for development as the new home of Cambridge School in Hammersmith.”

Note the phrase “is earmarked”, not “was earmarked”. Anyone who claims that the plan to move Cambridge pupils into the centre died with the ending of BSF is quite simply wrong.

It is perfectly reasonable to assume that, under the new plans, the scaled-down building work to adapt the Bryony to the Cambridge pupils’ needs could still have begun later this year. That work now cannot start for at least two and half years because for the next two years from this September the free school will be occupying the building.

We have no reason to think the free school realised that taking the Bryony meant they were elbowing aside children with special educational needs. On the information the council gave them, they may well have thought that the centre would otherwise remain empty.

We hope the free school will give local kids of all backgrounds an excellent education. But that is not the point. If we are correct – and we have every reason to believe we are – Hammersmith council has given the Bryony Centre to the West London Free School at the expense of the Cambridge School’s vulnerable pupils. And that just doesn’t seem right.

(A further twist is that the national free schools' budget comes out of the cancelled BSF programme. Michael Gove made this clear before the election when he told The Independent that the capital cost of free schools would be met by reducing spending on BSF.)

Tory council holds out slim hope for UK's only Irish Cultural Centre – eyes now on 7 Feb decision

At a passionate meeting last night, Tory H&F council confirmed it would be selling off the Irish Cultural Centre building by Hammersmith Broadway but council leader Stephen Greenhalgh held out some hope about the timing by asking how long it might take the centre to buy the building itself

Georgie Cooney, Conservative councillor for North End ward, was booed by the many people packed into the gallery when she argued for the sale of the centre. She said that being of Irish origin herself, she knew the Irish were a resilient folk and would pick themselves up again if the centre was sold. This patronising Uncle Tom comment didn’t go down well with the audience.

As matters stand, the Tories are trying to renege on an agreement with the centre to extend its lease to 2017, aiming to sell it off next April instead. Over six thousand local people have signed a petition asking for the lease to be extended as the council originally promised to give the centre time to raise £2 million to buy the building. Irish actor Gabriel Byrne has said selling off the centre “would be a devastation for Irish culture in Britain”.

Jim O’Hara, the centre’s chairman, told last night's meeting,“I was brought up with an old saying that a man’s word is his bond and I believe that the councillors would not see that as an out-moded concept”.

It would be great to see the Tories honour their promise and give the centre a realistic chance to raise the funds to stay open.

The final decision is due to be taken at a Cabinet meeting on 7 February.

Cooney: booed for being patronising

Hammersmith council 'not interested in us' say local small firms

As the economy contracts, a survey by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) reveals that Tory H&F council is failing to engage properly with local business. All the local firms surveyed say the council has never proactively contacted them about local issues and seven in ten have had no contact with the council at all.

Four in ten cite crime in the borough as a key issue.
(Boris Johnson has cut 455 police officers and refuses to guarantee the future of London’s 630 Safer Neighbourhood Police Teams. Labour had a Safer Neighbourhood Team in every ward and increased the police's numbers.)

Local firms particularly object to parking fees being increased as they need to be able access customers and suppliers. 
(The cost of parking in H&F has rocketed by 65 per cent, despite Labour councillors arguing that this was the wrong time to increase the cost of visiting residents and businesses.)

The FSB says, “It was felt that this [parking fees] was symptomatic of a general lack of interest in the well-being of the local business community.” 

Like the Tory-led government, which the director-general of the CBI yesterday accused of failing to articulate an economic vision for the future, Tory Hammersmith council is clearly failing small firms. Its only economic vision seems to be property development, even though its plans for the Shepherds Bush Market and King Street worry many local businesses.

Firms also told the FSB they want the Council to do more to promote the borough, help with recycling and ensure that businesses are not paying more business rates than necessary through the vigorous promotion of Small Business Rate Relief.

The FSB concludes, “We believe that an increase in the Council’s engagement with local businesses would help deliver improvements for local residents, the business community and the development of the economy of west and central London.”

Hear, hear.

Irish Centre gets just five minutes from the Tories to make the case against closure as 6,000 sign petition and Gabriel Byrne warns of “devastation”

Tory H&F Council is giving the Irish Cultural Centre a paltry five minutes at this evening's council meeting to makes its case against closure. The centre will be presenting a petition signed by a massive 5,805 people who live, work or study in Hammersmith and Fulham.

By getting over 5,000 signatures on the petition, the centre bought itself the right to speak at the meeting – without it, the Tories wouldn’t have given them even a minute (let alone a whole five!) so well done to everyone who signed the petition.

The duplicitous council is trying to renege on an agreement with the centre to extend its lease to 2017; instead they want to sell it off next April. The centre is asking the council to reconsider or at least to extend the lease to 2017 to give them time to raise the £2.2 million sale price.

The council will make its final decision at a Cabinet meeting on 7 February and we'll be watching closely.

Meanwhile, acclaimed Irish actor Gabriel Byrne has warned that selling off the centre “would be a devastation for Irish culture in Britain. We must by all means prevent this, not only for this generation alone but for those who follow.”

And the Irish Post tells the story of 51-year-old Margaret Joyce, who can’t read or write. The centre reads her mail for her and assists with form-filling and paperwork. Ms Joyce says, “I am in there all the time as the staff help me with my letters. They read them for me and help with my housing paperwork and my benefits. What stranger in the council will sit with me and do that? I don’t know what I will do if the centre is no longer there – it will have a huge effect on me.”

In a letter with the petition, chairman Jim O'Hara explains that the centre offers a wide range of programmes to Irish people, the elderly and many other diverse local communities, and over 16 years has acquired a national and international reputation for excellence in arts and education.

Five years after Labour did the deal, the Hammersmith Academy is finally opening in September

It isn't often this blog agrees with the Tories. But we can join them wholeheartedly in welcoming the Hammersmith Academy, which Labour set in motion and which is opening its doors this September. We are excited about the great education this will offer local children.

Our only gripe is that the doors should have opened sooner. It has been a long five years since the then-Labour council put the Hammersmith Academy deal together with two livery companies, the Mercers’ Company and the Information Technologists’ Company.

Five years for the Tories to take forward what they inherited from Labour and get the new Academy up and running. What a contrast with the effort they are making to slam through the West London “free” school.

PS The Academy's bear cool video is well worth watching.

It’s time for Hammersmith council to stop hiding behind Toby Young

No surprise to see Toby Young’s cheeky piece in this Sunday’s Mail, combining reasoned argument with personal insult and inaccurate figures to make the case for the West London “free” school.

What is surprising, however, is why it is the unelected Young who is fighting the fight for H&F Tory council and its leader Stephen Greenhalgh.

Surely it should be the council that defends kicking out 21 charities from Palingswick House so the “free” school can have it in two year’s time?

Surely it is the council that should be defending its sudden decision to give the Bryony Centre to the “free” school for now, even as behind-the-scenes discussions were still continuing about letting the crumbling Cambridge School for disabled children move into the centre?

It’s time the council stopped hiding behind the tiggerish Mr Young. He may be cheering them on, but they’re the ones taking the decisions and who are answerable to the voters.

West London 'free' school head weeps for the charities his school is kicking out

The newly appointed head teacher of the West London "Free" School has said he is "sympathetic" towards the 20 community groups being evicted from Palingswick house to make way for his school.

Lewis Carroll's The Walrus and the Carpenter somehow comes to mind, particularly the bit when the pair are about to gobble up all the oysters they have persuaded to follow them:

"I weep for you," the Walrus said:
"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.

"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.

Refugee Council condemns 'deplorable' plans to eject charities from Palingswick House for Toby Young's 'free' school

The Chief Executive of the Refugee Council has described as "deplorable" Tory H&F council's "proposals to  eject organisations supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our society from Palingswick House in Hammersmith so that they can be replaced by one of the government's flagship free schools".

In a letter in today's Guardian, Donna Covey also warns this will "be detrimental to the local area, by adding pressure on other local services to fill [the] gap, and hindering the integration of refugees and asylum seekers into the community."

She concludes, "It is ironic that the Conservative-led local authority would decimate such a fine example of the government's 'big society' – a place that brings communities together under one roof in order to promote community cohesion."

When will the council and the "free" school's Steering Committee get the message about the misery that this ideological and unwanted interloper is causing?

The apple of Eric Pickles’ eye is rotten to the core

Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government may have called Hammersmith & Fulham Council “the apple of my eye” on Monday but it is the opposite of your friendly local borough. See Andy Slaughter MP's typically sharp round-up of the council's abuses here.

These include:

• Shutting down a housing charity that tried to help a heavily pregnant, abused woman ignored by the council.
• Slashing Sure Start services for young children.
• Evicting 22 local charities so Toby Young's divisive and unwanted "free" school can have their building.
• Undertaking a fire sale of assets, from libraries to town halls and the Irish Cultural Centre.
• Trying to block local council tenants from taking over their estate so H&F can sell it off to a property developer.
• Using new powers given by Pickles to end low rents and capital investment in social housing.

As Lansley launches NHS 'reforms', Mirror exposes Hammersmith Tories' £50,000 link to private healthcare millionaire

Today's Mirror reveals "private health firms set to cash in on Conservative plans to rip apart the NHS".

One name will be very familiar to the Hammersmith Conservative Party. According to the Mirror, hedge fund boss John Nash and his wife Caroline "gave £203,500 to the [national] party over the past five years. The cash included £21,000 which was given directly to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to bankroll his office before the Conservatives took power."

Our own investigations reveal that Hammersmith Tories have also benefited from Mrs Nash's generosity to the tune of £50,000 since 2007.

The Mirror says, "The City tycoon was chairman of Care UK, which makes most of its money from the NHS, when most of the donations were made. Mr Nash continued to work as a consultant to the firm, which provides walk-in centres, GP surgeries and other specialist services, after selling his majority stake to a private equity firm last year. The 'hedgie' is also a founder of City firm Sovereign Capital, which runs a string of private healthcare firms."

The paper adds, "Our startling findings come as ministers today unveil destructive reforms which experts fear will set the NHS on an unavoidable path to privatisation. Not for the first time, it casts major doubts over the Prime Minister’s pledge before the election that the NHS was safe in Tory hands."