Since the reorganisation of the Isle of Wight education system by the former Conservative council from three to two tiers, the former Nodehill middle school site in Newport has been occupied as a VI Form Campus by the Island Innovation Trust.
Back in 2011 the then-Cabinet member responsible, Cllr George Brown, along with then-leader of the council, David Pugh, made a delegated decision to lease the former middle school to the Trust from 1st September 2011.
Has the Lease been signed?
Stalwart scrutineer of the council over education issues, Dave Miller, got in touch with OnTheWight recently asking if we knew whether a formal lease had been signed by all parties.
He’d discovered evidence that despite the site being occupied since 2011, by January 2013, a lease still hadn’t been signed.
Minutes of a Governors meeting dated 28 January 2013 read,
Nathan Thomas (NRT) raised issues with the land transfer at Medina and the lease at Nodehill. NRT has raised the land transfer with the LA but has not had a response. NRT has asked for legal advice on the liabilities acquired by occupation of the sites. The Nodehill lease is not yet signed because of the need for redecoration on vacating the site and the offer of a five year lease. John Metcalf has agreed that the site should be returned in no worse condition and that an option for the school to ask for an additional five year period should be included.
Dave was concerned Islanders might witness a repeat of the issues that arose with Cowes Enterprise College which was recently given away to Ormiston Academies Trust.
The big question
We got in touch with the council to find out whether the issues highlighted in January 2013 had been resolved over a year and half later.
Rather surprisingly, the council replied that a lease had still NOT been signed, despite the IIT occupying the premises since September 2011.
They gave the reason why as,
“Confusion over heads of terms offered at the time of school reorganisation. This is being resolved at present.”
We’ll be keeping a close eye on this one and will update you when we have more info.
Image: © Island Innovation Trust
