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This from Nick Binfield on behalf of Save Brading School. Ed
At the end of January, at the Isle of Wight Full Council meeting all members of the council had a say regarding the proposed closures of Island schools.
The voice was clear, the wrong schools have been selected. Therefore we call for these proposals to be withdrawn and started again.
There were countless reasons why the councillors considered that the wrong schools had been selected, concerns about the criteria used, failure to engage with all stakeholders in advance of the commencement of the process, concerns over planning areas, concerns about transparency in the selection criteria, and potential concerns surrounding the genuine nature of the consultation process adopted.
Disadvantaged more than any other community
Brading has been disadvantaged more than any other community by these proposals as every other school has had a Ward councillor who could act in their support.
Yet Brading’s ward councillor, Jonathan Bacon, has consistently voted in favour of these proposals. Many residents feel that he has not fully considered the concerns they have raised.
Furthermore, despite a request for Councillor Bacon to nominate another councillor to speak on our behalf, he declined, which we find disappointing.
Wrong schools selected
It is clear that in the eyes of many councillors, the schools selected by the officers are the wrong ones, so this paper lacks the legitimacy of the Full Council body.
We believe the democratic mandate of the Alliance Cabinet has been weakened due to the cancellation of the elections
The need to close schools is pressing
Looking at the council’s financial position the need to close schools is pressing. However if the original proposals from Councillor Debbie Andre had been managed in a more appropriate way, this could have been achieved in a collaborative way with a clear methodology, transparent criteria and fair process.
In our view, the Alliance Cabinet’s handling of this issue has been flawed, and Brading is suffering as a result.
Withdraw the paper
Councillor Phil Jordan has proven himself to be a democrat once by allowing the indicative vote. We as a community call on him to be a democrat again and to withdraw the schools’ paper.
In our view, this proposal lacks broad support from councillors, is deeply flawed, and the Cabinet’s democratic legitimacy to implement it has been weakened by the cancellation of elections.
