The grand old Duke of York has yet again been at play in the council's cabinet. Previous decisions from the council have left people of North Swindon not knowing which way to turn. After a much lauded and advertised grand consultation about where the next school places should be provided for Oakhurst, we find that no sooner had we been marched up to the top of the hill then we were marched back down again. The consultation was cancelled at very short notice.
Watch this space to see if our precious country park is threatened again in the near future.
ORA, the parish council and other organisations pointed out in the summer that Mouldon Hill was not a suitable site. However, General York-Renard continued marching up the hill. Finally council officers had to intervene and stop the consultation as they were aware, just as they had been told, that the site was in the Mouldon Hill country park. This park joins three councils together - Swindon, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire - and is the gateway to the Cricklade Country Way (currently protected in the Local Plan).
We all know that the current administration want to dispose of public open spaces and, in many cases, build on them. A recent example of this is the Croft school on the leisure fields and the battle celebre over Pickard's small field.
This sorry state of affairs can be entirely laid at the cabinet's door. If they carried out consultations before the pursuit of grand plans and listened to the voice of the community, a lot of time and money would be saved.
Watch this space to see if our precious country park is threatened again in the near future.
The people of Oakhurst want their children educated in Oakhurst. That is the definition of a local school which matches the Council's criteria for selecting a suitable site.
