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| DUNCES |
Academy bungle could scupper project
for a year
PLANS for a controversial city academy on the site of a primary
school descended into farce this week with the very real possibility
the project could be postponed by a year.
Planning permission for the Diocese of London-sponsored academy
was quashed in the High Court on Wednesday.
This is because the Town Hall forgot to ask English Heritage to
comment on the plans for the academy, which have caused a bitter
division in the community. English Heritage must be consulted on
any plans which affect a conservation zone.
This, however, means that the deadline imposed by the schools adjudicator
for planning permission to be granted – September 30 –
is technically missed by six weeks. The planning process must therefore
start from scratch and the schools adjudicator must again consider
the scheme.
The academy dream began to unravel after a lawsuit brought by two
residents claimed Islington Council had failed to consult English
Heritage over the scheme.
Rani Bibi and Terry Powers, who brought legal action, argue the
1460-pupil academy would ruin the setting and character of the conservation
area that surrounds the school.
The plans have been dogged by controversy. Many parents object to
the scheme because they saw no reason to improve St Mary Magadalene
School, which was performing well. They also say there will be too
many pupils, so many that they will have to eat their lunch-time
meal over three sittings. A consultation process was criticised
for being “badly administered” and there were allegations
that errors were made meaning some consultation papers were ignored.
Petitions from parents and residents have been raised against the
academy, which has also come under fire because of its size and
design.
Mr Powers also says he has unearthed new evidence from the University
of London archives that the primary school sits on the site of the
St Mary Magdalene “chapel of ease”.
It means the ground could be consecrated or contain burial plots.
The whole site used to belong to St Mary Magdalene Church before
Liverpool Road sliced through it one hundred years ago. To keep
on schedule for a September 2007 opening, the initial planning permission
had to be given by the end of September this year.
The plan is for work on the outlying buildings – a nursery,
drug rehabilitation centre and old people’s home – to
begin while St Mary Magdalene primary pupils remain in the main
school building.
The Diocese said last week the setback meant the construction process
for transforming the St Mary Magdalene primary school into an all-ages
academy was “challenging but doable”.
Education director Tom Peryer is still confident the academy would
meet its September 2007 deadline for its first intake of pupils.
But now permission has been quashed, the new planning process and
consultation with English Heritage and the adjudicator means building
work will not happen before the New Year. This means the first completed
school building may be finished one school year late.
A spokeswoman for English Heritage said: “Our inspector, Steven
Robb, will visit the site although these visits will not be open
to the public. His final judgement will be publicly available within
21 days. Islington Council is under not obligation to act on our
comments.”
Mr Powers, from Crossley Street, said: “I’m still very
confident we’ll win even though the council want to bulldoze
it through. There’s still demolition happening on the site
and this is illegal. The present planning permission is null and
void.”
Councillor James Kempton, Islington’s education chief, is sure
the first intake of pupils will arrive in 2007.
He said: “I meet many parents who are in favour of the academy
and I’m disappointed human error means we have to go through
the whole process again. It was quashed on a technicality and it
was always my view people would seek a judicial review.” |
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