£4.5m refurbishment of Bristol's Elmlea Infants School dropped due to spending cuts
A £4.5 MILLION plan to rebuild Elmlea Infant School in Westbury-on-Trym has fallen victim to public spending cuts.
Bristol City Council has announced it is dropping the scheme and will work with the school to look at much cheaper proposals to refurbish the 50-year-old building and provide some temporary classrooms.
The decision has dismayed parents, staff and governors. It comes after many months of discussions with the neighbouring Elmlea Junior School over whether the new building should be on the junior school playing field or on the site of the existing infants' school.
The council's Lib-Dem cabinet approved the rebuild in early October and consultation took place on five options for the site.
But this week, Clare Campion-Smith, the executive member responsible for schools, scrapped all those schemes and said that "a large scale proposal for Elmlea Infant School is not possible in the current economic climate".
It is believed that the sixth option will cost no more than £600,000 and will involve some improvements to make classrooms larger as well as installing some modular buildings to make more space for the 270 pupils.
The school was built as an open plan school for 210 children, but subsequent installation of partitions means that some classrooms are cramped and have to be used as corridors while one has no windows.
Mrs Campion-Smith said: "I can confirm that the council is still committed to addressing some of the key deficiency issues associated with Elmlea Infants' School and will discuss with representatives of the school how this might best be achieved within a reduced amount of available funding.
"I appreciate that the school will be disappointed that there will not be the complete rebuild or the full refurbishment that they hoped for. Some staff and children have classrooms that are far too small and the investment proposals should allow them to work in rooms that are spacious and light and allow high quality learning. Elmlea Infants' holds an 'outstanding' Ofsted report and we hope this investment will help them to continue their excellent work."
She said the precise nature of any works needed to be the subject of further discussion in September.
Catherine Ball, chairwoman of governors at Elmlea Infants' School, said: "The staff and governors are extremely disappointed with the proposed outcomes but we are looking forward towards participating in a working group comprising members of Bristol City Council and ourselves to find the best solution for our children.
"Our aim throughout has always been to provide a learning environment for our infant children, which meets all recognised standards."
A spokesman for Acies, the group that campaigned against rebuilding the school on the juniors' playing field, said: "While we are pleased that this decision will ensure that the field is preserved as a vital asset for the schools and community, it is very regrettable that the full £4.5m originally allocated to the project will no longer be available for much- needed improvements. Acies has always supported a major redevelopment project, but not at the expense of the playing field and the loss of this amenity for future generations. We hope that everyone will now focus on making best use of the funding that has been made available to improve this outstanding school."
Bristol North West Conservative MP Charlotte Leslie said: "It is a huge shame for the infants' school, which really does need a rebuild."
She blamed "over-long consultations" by the Bristol Local Enterprise Partnership, which will carry out the work for the city council, for delaying the project.
Ms Leslie has raised her concerns about "lack of transparency" over the LEP's involvement with Elmlea in the House of Commons.
19 Comments
View all
by Another Elmlea Parent, Westbury on Trym
Wednesday, July 28 2010, 8:50PM
“As another Elmlea parent, I have to say I agree with most of your points - particularly that the consultation was risible and lip-service at best¿ and your closing paragraph gets a standing ovation from me.
But, as another Elmlea parent (so just as qualified as you to comment), I can't agree with your claim that the majority of Elmlea parents were against the scheme - we just don't know, due to the lack of an open and transparent consultation.
I also can't agree with your support for ACIES when in the same breath you're rejecting the LEP as an "unelected quango" - no-one voted for the unaccountable ACIES (and they certainly didn't speak for me). They hid behind anonymous websites and emails, misleading propaganda drops and tub-thumping posters, while encouraging people to hurl abuse at everyone else involved.
Don't get me wrong - the LEP and the Council seem to have handled this woefully and dropped the Infants' School right in it, abandoning them to the wolves when things went south. I can't believe that an Ofsted-rated Outstanding school and staff do things just to be deliberately unpopular or divisive - from what I saw they were only ever trying to get the best possible environment for the children for the whole curriculum (and not just PE).
I think the biggest disappointment in all of this was that all the parties (on both sides, in both schools) retreated back into tribal positions rather than working together and being prepared to give some ground (not literally, necessarily...). Not the finest hour for either school or the local community, or the parents of both schools who have happily benefited from the Infants' School when it suited them but offered no support or constructive help when it was needed.
If that point of view makes me a ¿sycophant¿, so be it - but please don't presume to represent my views, or those of the majority (and I make no such claim either).”
by Elmlea Parent, Westbury on Trym
Wednesday, July 28 2010, 1:45AM
“For those of you are (clearly) aren't aware of the background here...
Dec 2009: Elmlea Infants announces that a new school will be built on the site of the Junior School playing field
Jan 2010: Public consultation starts (maybe an idea to have done that beforehand?). Public are against.
Feb to May 2010: Bristol LEP spins itself into a frenzy trying to post rationalise the "decision"
June 2010: Change of Government
July 2010: BCC suddenly needs to find £25M. Axes a deeply unpopular and divisive plan that only had a small pocket of support with Infant Head and sychophants, but made Bristol LEP (majority owned by builders Skanska) a bucket full of money.
The majority of Elmlea parents breathe a deep sigh of relief and thank austerity measures for showing BCC the error of their ways.
Let this be a lesson in a) How money blinds reason and b) Generally a public consultation takes place before a decision is taken rather than after.
Well done to acies, Charlotte Leslie and junior school in standing up against the dirty tricks of an unelected quango.
Thanks for all the class hatred from other parts of town - perhaps we should all don our Chairman Mao outfits now and send every Bristolian kid to work on Windmill Hill Farm. I guess political correctness enables you to have a pop at "middle class parents" who shop at Waitrose, but if we made a similar jibe you'd be innundating BEP with cries of elitism, snobbery, class war, etc. You're the proud legacy of Nu LIEbour, Alistair Campbell would be very proud.”
by Prince Tobius, Out there & amongst us
Tuesday, July 27 2010, 10:30PM
“I'm just mightily relieved that refurbishing this excellent school isn't somehow dependant on Sainsbury's building an outlet on the school playing fields. The thought of the little ones having access to cheap lager outside their classrooms just fills me with horror.”
by Chris, Bristol
Tuesday, July 27 2010, 9:58PM
“Cancelling there programs is absolute folly, we need growth to get out of the banker's deficit but instead the Tory-Liberal government are using the deficit as cover to greatly reduce the size of the state. Their economically illiterate policies risk stagnation and even recession but on they go slashing and burning our public services.
The most recent growth figures of 1.1% was mainly due to the construction industry which received a massive boost in 2008 from the governments stimulus measure of bringing forward spending on capital projects.”
by geoff, bristol
Tuesday, July 27 2010, 7:56PM
“one of many schools to get the chop in the cuts round the uk.life at the moment because of labour”
by BS9, Bristol
Tuesday, July 27 2010, 5:58PM
“Tim - it's not really that ironic as the vast majority of people in this area didn't want this development to happen. A perfectly good playing field would have been lost and the council and infants school did'nt appear to have given any thought as to how that facility would have been replaced. I'm personally delighted that this won't be going ahead , delighted that the Infants school will have a significant sum of money to make some improvements to their excellent school and Im most delighted by the fact that we appear to at long last seem to have a group of polticians who understand the first rule of economics .................namely you can't spend more than you earn.”
by Tim, Bristol
Tuesday, July 27 2010, 3:51PM
“What delicious irony. Stoke Bishop is a Tory stronghold. The Tories stand for cutting public spending. They got what they voted for.”
by Julraj, Clifton, Bristol
Tuesday, July 27 2010, 2:19PM
“Exactly, give it all to CLIFTON.
At least we won't blow it all on drugs and other poor people things.”
by Groan, Bristol
Tuesday, July 27 2010, 1:53PM
“So Angus... council money should only go to deprived areas because they somehow deserve it *more* than other groups?? I'd hope that any school in need of refurbishment in the city would be considered equally according to need.
People in BS8/9/etc. pay council tax just the same as everyone else. In fact, they pay more, so they're already subsidising the city to a degree according to their much derided "ability to pay" - yet you're saying that they're not even entitled to a school that meets the current needs of the curriculum and health-and-safety of the children? For 4-7 year olds?
If a rich person stood there and said that deprived areas didn't deserve investment in schools, they'd be (rightly) pilloried - so why is it OK in our society to do the opposite?”
by angus, ashley down
Tuesday, July 27 2010, 12:04PM
“I'm not sorry to hear that this already well resourced school which serves only a very select group of very affluent residents is loosing out as they already enjoy the very best that is available within the city. It's just a shame the money cannot be reallocated to bennefit those less affluent and who do not enjoy so many privillages, advantages and resources.
Well done BCC. But please now give the money to Hartcliffe, Southmead, Withywood or Easton and St Pauls. These deprived communities need and frankly deserve it more than Elmlea and their exclusive catchment.”