Ask nearly anyone on the Isle of Wight who has been following the proposed mass closures of schools and it’s highly likely that they’ll tell you that they’ve been told that it’s down to the Government withdrawing £7-8 million from the Island, if the apparent surplus of school places isn’t reduced to 10%.
We can understand this, as when we’ve listened to Cllr David Pugh, Steve Beynon and Cllr Alan Wells on the radio on the weekly phone-in show, we’ve had that impression too.
The same holds true for the presentations made to the public during the consultation meetings by Steve Beynon, Cllr Alan Wells and Cllr David Pugh, as they’ve toured the Island.
Today, Standards Not Tiers have released a press release that credits Duncan Smith, head of news on IW radio, with an amazing scoop.
They say that David Pugh has admitted that the council’s grounds for mass school closures has been based on a misunderstanding by the council, of the rules governing the granting of Primary Capital Plan funding.
A Misunderstanding?
Quite what the misunderstanding was, is unclear – as is how such a massive mistake, that Standards Not Tiers accuse the council of, could be made on such an important issue.
We’ve contacted the press office at the council to get their side side of the story, they tell us that they are endeavouring to get a response to us “some point this afternoon,” but we haven’t had the details at time of publishing this story. When/if we hear, we’ll update you.
Chris Welsford, speaking for Standards Not Tiers, “There can be no confidence in the ability of the councillors Pugh, Wells and the Director of Children’s Services Steve Beynon to continue to manage this process. They have demonstrated a contempt for the general public who trusted them to put forward idea’s based on facts; facts that have now been shown to be misleading and inaccurate.”
