School expansion plans rejected (From Haringey Independent)

Belmont School expansion plans rejected

1:32pm Thursday 11th October 2012 in News By Bruce Thain

Controversial plans to expand a school have been rejected following an investigation by an independent adjudicator.

The Office of the Schools Adjudicator rejected proposals from Haringey Council to expand both Belmont Infant and Junior Schools.

The schools, in Rusper Road, Tottenham, were earmarked for an expansion which would see the school double in size for the start of the next school year.

The plans were met with fierce opposition from school governors, parents and MP for Tottenham David Lammy who sent a letter to the leader of the council calling for the plans to be reconsidered.

In his report by Schools Adjudicator David Lennard Jones, rejected the plans for a number of reasons and found the need for pupil places in the immediate area of the schools has not been established by the council.

Also he said: “There are significant concerns about the risks to standards resulting from the limitations of what can be achieved with the funding available and the constrictions of the site.

“And there is strongly expressed concern by the key stakeholders whose support will be essential in carrying this project through.”

The council had put £2.2million aside for the expansion which would see the school go from a two-form entry to a three-term entry in September 2013.