CABINET COUNCILLOR ACCUSED OF “BAD FAITH”
ON PRIMARY PROMISE!
Bristol Conservatives have accused Councillor Peter Hammond, Cabinet Member for Cohesion & Raising Achievement, of “bad faith” over a promise to work with Opposition parties in the row over planned primary school closures.
Last month, the City's Labour minority Administration reaffirmed its decision to shut three Bristol primaries, St George's CoE, St Pius X RC and Stockwood Green Primary, as part of its controversial citywide Primary School Review.
Following a successful Conservative “call-in” challenge of the decision, Cllr Hammond reluctantly agreed to participate in a cross-party working group formed to examine alternative measures to closure.
However, despite the urgent need to find a solution to the Primary School impasse, four weeks have elapsed since the Call-In Panel met and the first meeting of the working group has only just been agreed for the week before Christmas (on 17th December).
Tory Leader Councillor Richard Eddy, who was instrumental in ensuring that the school closures will again be debated at Full Council on 13th January, today accused the Labour Administration of “bad faith” in delaying the setting up the working group.
Cllr Eddy (Con, Bishopsworth) said: “Despite Cllr Hammond's professed willingness to work with us to find a satisfactory way forward, the lack of urgency displayed in setting up the working group makes us question his sincerity.
“Initial attempts by the Conservative and Lib Dem Groups to secure the first meeting of the working group proved fruitless and then Peter Hammond produced only one date in his diary, which was impossible for other councillors.
“The desperate need to rework the Primary School Strategy and secure cross-party support in time for the re-submission of the Council's plans to Government by 31st January should be a priority for City politicians.
“Sadly, it looks as if Labour's Cabinet Member for Education is being deliberately obstructive in allowing us to explore alternative options to his destructive closure plans.
“This delay is completely unacceptable to those of us who genuinely want to secure a long-term future for these three threatened schools and help deliver new capital funding for Bristol's other primaries.”
