Please Mr Bumble; Can We Have A School Where We Want It?

It is with a sardonic irony that the Adver reports that Tadpole Farm will become the preferred site for a four-form-entry primary school in Priory Vale.  The council has been aware of the demand for school places for several years and funding provision had been made to meet the known demand. However, it carried out the following incomprehensible actions: 

 

1. It was clear from the building programme that two-form-entry schools were needed, yet it continued to provide one-form-entry schools.
2. This was coincidental in so far as Cllr Renard sat on a schools task group which carved up safety valve money for North Swindon schools and set out to build schools in South Swindon when there was already sufficient capacity.  In doing this, schools in the North were starved of building funds and new school places.
3. Parents of children in Priory Vale have been treated in a cruel manner and now find their children shunted around the Northern part of Swindon for no other reason other than political incompetence and muddled thinking.

Mouldon Hill Country Park Saved From Development

Tonight SBC’s Cabinet made the decision to place two primary schools on Tadpole Farm. One will be built with access from the Oakhurst Way/Tadpole Lane roundabout and open in September 2014; the second site will be built later.

As we are aware, local councillors preferred the Country Park as the site for the new school. Residents in Oakhurst wanted to keep the Country Park and were quite clear, during the consultation, that no building of such kind should take place there.

Residents in Oakhurst also wanted a local site for a local school and asked for the planned Tadpole Farm school to be brought forward. Residents tell us that they are pleased that common sense has won the day and that the school will be built on Tadpole Farm.

ORA would like to thank everyone who worked with us to save the Country Park from development. Local people are pleased that a school will be built that does not involve a long hike over difficult terrain.

The new school at Tadpole Farm will benefit the people of Oakhurst and will be less distance to travel for all of the Oakhurst children when compared to the Mouldon Hill Country Park site.

Local School Places or Product Placement for Class Solutions?

Class Solutions…

SCS (think Direct Labour Department ) is an ‘arms length company’ owned in total by SBC. Mr Pickles has described such arrangements as ‘sock puppets’.

Class Solutions is an SBC/SCS design of wooden pods with huge roofs where a 2FE primary school will require 5 18metre x 18metre pods, 15 pitched roofs and 4 flat connecting roofs.  Also known as a Pop-Up School, in which North Swindon MP J Tomlinson has previously shown an interest.

Is This Another Injustice For Oakhurst People?

People in Oakhurst will be surprised to learn that their wishes and aspirations are recognised by the councillors but it seems they are not being listened to.  This patronising approach by councillors has to stop.  The people of Oakhurst have clearly shown they want a school at Tadpole Farm.  The council has carried out an assessment which also shows that:

3.19 In conclusion, the site assessment scoring brings the Tadpole Farm site out as the best option.

Out of the Blue - A Developer Came to Call

ORA have received a telephone call today from the developer at Tadpole Farm.  On receiving the call, ORA was hoping to hear that the developer had relented and was bringing Oakhurst residents the good news that they wouldn't have to wait for 564 houses to be built before the school building started.

Sadly, this was not the case.  The only reason the developer rang us up was to see if we were interested in their design codes.  They are the architects, they are the ones that pushed this through onto the community but now they have the temerity to approach us.

We know that some turkeys will vote early for Christmas; as the local councillors did when they said they were against inappropriate development but then proposed and voted for it.

The only thing that ORA would support on behalf of the residents of Oakhurst is if the developer came forward and said when and where would you like the school built on the Tadpole Farm site; thus helping existing residents to find a reception place for their children.

The developer has got its wish, the support of the local councillors and the MP.  We'll leave them to sort this mess out; a mess of their own making.

News from the Doorstep - School Place Consultation

The Oakhurst residents are showing a level of anger over and above that of Tadpole Farm, when the gang of four said that they were against inappropriate development and then proposed and voted for it.

Second time around and the residents are still in no mood to forgive or forget.

ORA have been offered lots of help, advice and news concerning the school place consultation.  Residents have also offered to fund the leaflets and deliver them; such is the depth of anger over the consultation of obfuscation. 

 

ORA would like to thank residents for their generous offers but we already have enough people to deliver.  However, we would appreciate it if they could speak to their neighbours as promised.

Other groups are also contacting us about matters in North Swindon. Redhouse are surprised to hear about the 30-odd houses being planned for land adjacent to the village centre; especially as they tell us that there will be no improvements to Redhouse Way.

If there are any spare school places in Blunsdon then they are very likely to disappear because of pressure from the developments at Broadbush, Abbey Stadium and on the land between the A419 and Blunsdon.

The Old One Two: Rapid Transit Link planned for the East?

Talk about groundhog day.  Residents in Oakhurst are still stunned from the u-turning punch landed by the gang of four on Tadpole Farm's green and precious land when the next punch has already been landed on the East.  The East has fallen victim to the knockout punch of the Old One Two aka Heenan and Bluh.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall Which School Site is Fairest Of All?

Oh dear.  Why has the fairy tale of a good boast evaporated for local politicians in the North?

Residents in Oakhurst know that some politicians enjoy putting party literature, that comes out of the blue, through their letter boxes.  What motivates them?  Keeping the leaflet business ticking over or actually informing residents what's important in their locality?  Are some politicians determined to follow a leaflet, bald of facts, with a dose of disingenuiness on the doorstep?

Graham Mack Breakfast Show - Tadpole Farm Approval

Oakhurst resident, Steph Exell, appeared on the Graham Mack breakfast show this morning and rebutted comments made by Dale Heenan * - where were the ward councillors from Priory Vale? - about the approval of the Tadpole Farm development on 11th September 2012.

He believes that Swindon is excellent at meeting school place demand.  However, parents in Oakhurst may not agree with him.  Dale Heenan spouts out figures without backing them up with fact.  Let's get down to facts campaigner, Kareen Boyd, has demonstrated that the education figures do not add up.

When it came to the question about Oakhurst Way, he was totally unable to clarify how much money would be spent defending the local road from becoming nothing more than a major rat-run.

There were some glib comments about flooding and solving the problem by building more houses on boggy land.

Objective facts carry far more weight than vacuous blather so why do politicians use one rather than the other?

* Cabinet member for Strategic Planning and Sustainability

TADPOLE FARM FINALLY APPROVED - OAKHURST RESIDENTS KEPT IN THE DARK

On the 11^th September 2012 ORA learned from a twitter account hosted by a consultant involved in the Tadpole Farm application that the s.106 agreement had been signed off by all parties concerned.  At lunch time we were able to print off the signed agreement from the Council’s website.  It was outrageous that no-one had contacted the residents of Oakhurst to let them know what was happening.
 
According to sources in the media the local councillors were already spinning this issue or unavailable for comment.

ORA had to print off scores of pages from the Council’s planning portal to drill into the detail.  However, after much drilling the residents of Oakhurst will be disappointed to learn that there is no ground-breaking, earth-shaking improvement to what the original agreement said.

ORA’s interpretation is that there is nothing new to tell you from three months of negotiations.

Tadpole Farm Debate - Let's not gild the lily

After a recent spate of tweeting with people in Oakhurst we think the time has come to put the record straight.  ORA are not running with a political agenda despite what local councillors and their friends are saying.

If the councillors and a body of people, whether in joint enterprise or by disparate commonality, want to ambush ordinary Oakhurst residents and ORA then let them carry on.  We in Oakhurst know that the Association does not have a political agenda.  We had no influence in the council chamber.  We could not have a vote in what happened and ORA were only allowed three minutes to give their point of view.

So why is a little residents association that takes on the might of the ruling party being treated in such a way?  The story of David and Goliath is well known to people and if Oakhurst has to play the part of the former rather than the latter it is not a position we relish. 

Our aim in this campaign has always been against the inappropriate development of Tadpole Farm.  Our position has always been clear.  We want to see new roads such as the Purton/Iffley Road link and a northern spine road.  We all know the pressing need for additional primary school places in North Swindon but more worryingly plans for secondary provision are woefully lacking too.

When this is balanced against the local councillors’ desire for a community centre in Redhouse, ORA are even more concerned that the same effort has not been applied to secure the necessary infrastructure in the Oakhurst area. 

It is outrageous that councillors think that they can concrete over Oakhurst Way and scandalous that it is so easily spoken about as a general subject in North Swindon and at meetings.

We are not being political as we know that politicians from the main parties are in favour of the principle of developing Swindon.  However, what politicians need to understand is that their favour for development must not ride roughshod over this community’s favour for proper and adequate schools, roads and the right to a private life that is not disturbed by the imposition of a traffic route.

Be advised that various meetings are taking place with politicians over the next week and if you would like any representations made you can contact the Chairman, Paul Exell, directly on 01793 703276, email: paul.exell@rwe.com or go to the meetings and voice your opinion on the development or your objection.

Invitation to a Public Meeting to discuss the Tadpole Farm Development

ORA have received this invitation to a public meeting about Tadpole Farm.

Dear Sir/Madam

Public Meeting to discuss the Tadpole Farm Development

I would like to invite you to a public meeting I have organised to discuss what actions North Swindon residents and community groups would like the Council and developer to take to mitigate the impact of the Tadpole Farm development. This public meeting will take place at Moredon Community Centre on Tuesday,17^th July 2012, starting at 7pm.

Comments from Dale Heenan

Dale Heenan has posted the following comments to ORA and he and Emma Faramarzi continue to tweet and post on Facebook about ORA. We welcome this effort from local politicians who are desperate to improve their readership to the extent that they are driving more web traffic to the ORA blog and improving our readership statistics.

ORA are now part of the interweb political conversation taking place in Swindon and this has been picked up on www.talkswindon.org. Geoff Reid is not one to miss an opportunity to expose and scrutinise the actions of the councillors at Swindon Borough Council.

Councillors' Quotes at Planning Committee - Cllr Heenan

"And this scheme will be built over the next ten to fifteen years, so what we decide in the next few months may not be what actually is needed in the area in ten years time, so I would also like the period to be there so that the Highways Officers can be, I wouldn’t want to say as generic as possible, but keep the recommended scheme of works fairly high level...."

"If you look at the scenarios where we’ve had the hard working councillors, like Tomlinson, trying to campaign for things like the pub and community centre, these kinds of things are things we need to nail down now and this period of further negotiation would allow Officers to really tackle those kind of points."

Councillors' Quotes at Planning Committee - Cllr Heaton-Jones

And I am not here to represent the Conservative administration of this Council – I am here as a ward councillor to represent the views of residents...To do anything else would not have been honest....Chair, I have to say a phrase that includes the words ‘not worth the paper it is written on’ springs to mind....My job tonight has been to tell you that many residents I represent, many of whom are here tonight, are opposed to this application. I share their concerns, the message is loud and clear, please do not ignore it."

Tadpole Farm is being mentioned on Oakhurst doorsteps

During bouts of heavy rain tonight Oakhurst residents got together and went out to speak to fellow Oakhurst residents.  Though people were busy on a Saturday night they took time to talk to their neighbours from Oakhurst.  We are grateful for the time they spent talking to us and it was obvious that the local Conservative councillors had actually created more questions after their visit.

ORA was able to answer these questions and hope that more interventions like this do the same.

Justin Tomlinson, MP uses a term, it's being mentioned on the doorsteps.  If he continues to promote the capitulation by Cllr Elliott, who proposed Tadpole Farm for approval, then people will react in a way he may not have seen before.

It is good that the local Conservative councillors and MP are aligning themselves to their actions and attempts to reassure local residents are failing.  If they had been aiming at a target then today they would have missed it by a country mile.

Councillors' Quotes at Planning Committee - Cllr Tomlinson

Cllr Vera Tomlinson (St Andrews) has served several years as a member of the Planning Committee.
She completes a U-turn in her point of view about what should happen to the Tadpole Farm application in the space of five days.  What happens to change her view so completely would only be conjecture; but it is ORA's opinion that to say it should be refused in one meeting and then say it should be approved in another is, at the least, very disturbing for the residents of North Swindon. 

At the North Locality meeting on Thursday, 7th June 2012 Cllr Tomlinson speaks to the residents about how the Tadpole Farm application should be refused:

"We’ve got to get through this first hurdle, and you know our mission is to try and bring up enough points to persuade the committee to vote against it.  And it is only outline planning permission that they are seeking on the night.  So you don’t get all the conditions and bits and pieces – it is purely do we have permission to build and then the officer will decide what the conditions are. Now, if I was on Planning Committee I wouldn’t vote for that because I think the committee needs to know exactly what they are voting for......

Councillors' Quotes at Planning Committee - The Decision

"Tonight you have complained about the fact that consultation does not always happen and you want to close the circle further? I think that as many ward councillors as want to have a say should." 
(Cllr Toby Elliott to Cllr Vera Tomlinson)

Councillors' Quotes at Planning Committee - Cllr Friend

"There is nothing in this application to support it being refused and I am very sad to say this, but like Cllr Tomlinson, I am a realist."  Planning Committee - 12th June 2012

"It shocked me how many people were against it and reading the application there are so many things that are wrong with it for the people that already live in the area."  North Locality Meeting - 7th June 2012

Tadpole Farm - North Locality Meeting 7th June 2012 - What's in a Minute?

On 7th June 2012 the North Locality meeting went ahead and Tadpole Farm was on the agenda.  We have put the minute up from the Locality Lead and have contrasted this minute with ORA's.

ORA note that the Northern Development councillors who attended the meeting spoke against development at Tadpole Farm but at Planning Committee recommended it for approval or left it up to the Planning Committee.

Cllr Vera Tomlinson says:

"I would like to respond to David [Cllr David Renard (Haydon Wick)] and I am sure he knew I would. It is a bit of a defeatist attitude, that one. We are fighting for something that means an awful lot to an awful lot of people that live in the area which we are talking about and who will be affected most. It is not a done deal if we turn it down, if this Planning Committee turns it down, that the inspector will also turn it down. We have the right to speak at that appeal and if our arguments are good then the inspector will agree with us. So don’t think that if it is turned down it is going to cost you all a lot of money. Not necessarily so. And, in my opinion it is a fight worth fighting. We have to do it, it concerns so many people and it is such a bad application..."

On the night, Cllr Tomlinson recommended the committee to approve the planning application.