Potters Bar Forum

I am still very concerned about the way in which the long list has been produced.
I am pleased that options have been added but am also worried that this is just a 'smoke screen'. How can we, the parents at Sunny Bank School, be sure that that the other options haven't just been added to make it look fairer and to try to appease us. How can we be sure that all these options are going to be looked at equally and that each one has just the same likelihood of being on the short list? And why are all 3 options showing Sunny Bank to close still on the list, when the stakeholders unanimously voted against them? I have written to Paul Wray & copied the councillors about my concerns-I just wanted them to know that are we are still very wary of the process and of there being a hidden agenda.

Well done Diane. I have e mailed Councillor Robert Gordon with my concerns and just got fobbed off with same old story, you can say what you think at the public meetings, that is what a public consultation is about. I am not convinced as you say that they haven't already made their minds up! We'll just have to make our prescence felt at these public meetings and encourage other parents to do the same. I also e mailed James Clappison, who said I was welcome to let him know about any developments, for what its worth, as he has no influence anyway apparently. The points of view of us parents and residents will also show at the next lot of Local Government elections. I won't be voting Tory or Labour (as apparently John Prescott is at the back of all this selling land off). It will be Lib/Dems or Green Party if they are standing. That goes for my husband who has always voted Tory, so they better watch out. No school should go!

I know the stakeholders voted against them, but, at the end of the day, Im sure none of the schools want to close themselves either.

I am fed up with the standard letters and as voters feel we deserve more so I sent an email yesterday to HCC expressing a number of concerns. I even managed to get a reply the same day - albeit a rather fed up sounding email. This is the detail:

(Q) Why would the Council remove 5 of the 7 options put forward by Capita to leave the closure of Sunnybank as the only options.
(A) The other options on this list did not remove 3 forms of entry.

(Q) Why did the Council representatives reject a unanimous vote (from representatives from all schools) at the meeting at Mount Grace School to remove the 3 options from any future list
(A) the three options had not been fully evaluated at the last meeting and because they do reduce capacity by 3 FE they needed to be kept on the list at that stage.

(Q) Why was there no "long list of proposals" as is required at this stage. The first published options were the list of 3 all condemning Sunny Bank.
(A) there were no other options which removed 3 FE produced by the consultants and at that stage no other stakeholders had come forward with any other options.

(Q) How can the parents, children, staff and residents of Sunny Bank Primary be reassured that this matter is going to be carried out in a fair way?
(A) the authority is evaluating all the options which remove 3 FE. There have been problems with the process but it is our intention to take this review forward so that the outcome will be of benefit to the children of Potters Bar. For some time all the schools in the town have been expressing their concern about the need for this review.

I am pleased to see someone has acknowledged that 'there have been problems'. Keeping asking questions. We have the right to know.

Well done again Rhodie. We will keep sending letters, e-mails etc. to the press and the politicians. As you say we have a right to know and not be fobbed off by all these bog standard letters, as in attend the public meetings and express your views when it comes to public consultation. By which time they will probably say its too late and they will make the decision to be the outcome they were angling at in the first place! We all know what I mean. There will be a public outcry if that is the case and we will fight this whatever way we see fit , as I have said before. The local resident won't put up with being trampled on either. They probably think old people don't care, but from all the people I have been speaking to, they are all incensed as well and say they could probably run the Council in a more efficient and cost effective way! They are correct in their assumption, I should think. What a bunch they are !!