Prominent Merton councillors have condemned objections over a new school in south Wimbledon as being based on ‘incomplete information' and 'inaccurate leaks' as over 50 people attended a protest meeting against the ‘secretive’ plans.
Merton Council announced on July 1 that a new secondary school – Harris Academy Wimbledon – would be built in south Wimbledon and run by the Harris Federation. The exact location of the new school has not yet been released by the council, but it is believed it will be built in private land off Merantun Way.
The Harris Federation already run Harris Academy Merton and Harris Academy Morden
July 1: Confirmed: New secondary school will be built in south Wimbledon
On August 12, users of the High Path Community Centre (HPCC) received an email from the director of community and housing, Simon Williams, who said the planned site ‘incorporates an area of privately owned land next to the High Path Estate and includes the High Path Community Centre’ and confirmed this would mean the forced relocation of the centre, which specialises in helping adults with learning difficulties.
The nearby Merton Abbey Primary School have also been made aware that they will be made to share their playing fields with the new secondary school of 1,150 pupils.
Ahead of a protest meeting against the proposals on Monday, September 19, councillor for Abbey ward and former cabinet member for environmental sustainability and regeneration, Councillor Andrew Judge, insisted that residents would be fully consulted once the council had successfully purchased the required land.
The protest meeting, which was attended by around 60 people and supported by the Merton branch of the National Union of Teachers, was held in St John the Divine in High Path. The only councillor to attend the meeting was Conservative Councillor Michael Bull.
Former Labour councillor and cabinet member for education, Peter Walker, spoke against the plans at the meeting. Photo: Andrew Boyce
Cllr Judge said: “It is the leaking of partial material related to that decision-making process that is the basis of the current protest. I cannot support a protest based on incomplete information that inevitably has caused anxiety and upset.
“As local councillors, we will be engaging with local residents when the full details of the proposals are available to be shared this autumn so that everyone can see what it involves.”
He added: “We are clear as ward councillors that the building of the school must go hand in hand with the provision of a new Learning Disability Centre nearby that is at least as good if not better than the current HPCC.
“The playing field of Merton Abbey Primary School will not be ‘taken over’, but partly shared with the use being subject to an agreement between the council and the schools.”
However, Sue Hubbert, who attended the protest meeting to represent the carers of the 80 adults with learning disabilities who use the HPCC, said they had received little reassurance from the council so far.
Ms Hubbert said: “The only thing we have been able to find out about a new location for a centre is that there’s a building nearby that’s owned by the council we could use, and it has very small rooms.
“This feels like the final straw. No one has been consulted about the school, even the local community. I’m astounded they think they can just plonk a new secondary school down without telling anyone.”
The meeting was organised by the chair of the High Path Community Association, Cypren Edmunds, who said: “It’s an unfortunate response that Andrew Judge has given. It’s really disappointing that not a single Labour councillor came just to listen to what people had to say.
Protesters against the plans gathered last month
“We are living in the 21st century and this level of secrecy just isn’t the way the delivery of public services should be done. People aren’t so stupid, and they won’t stand for it.”
Deputy leader of Merton Council, Councillor Mark Allison, said: "Parents are crying out for a good new secondary school in the Wimbledon area and we are working with the government and the Harris Federation to ensure one opens soon, offering local children a really good education near to where they live.
"We're happy to reassure residents that other services in the area will continue to be provided in the future, but parents will be rightly furious if we put the school at risk by undermining commerically sensitive negotiations by responding to inaccurate leaks.
"We will announce full details when we can, and ask all those who have the best interests of our children to bear with us."
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