Regarding the West End Schools Project and the council's application to Scottish Ministers for dispensation from the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967 and as amended, the West End Parents Committee have obtained documents under Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 which the local authority have refused to publish, have refused sight of to elected councillors of the council's Education Committee, and which the Education Convener, Cllr Liz Fordyce, has claimed she considers to be a "confidential letter". The council has also refused to make the information available in response to an FOISA request. The council's formal position on this is that they are withholding the documents because:
"...it has been widely reported in the media that parents of children affected by the proposed West End schools merger are considering taking legal action against the Council, presumably by way of Judicial Review in the Court of Session. Accordingly Officers are not at liberty to disclose documents that will form part of the Council's defence to such an action, including the application made to the Scottish Government under the 1967 Regulations, at this time."
We would question what is so confidential in the application that it cannot be made public. The documents we have received under Freedom of Information suggest that the council's application includes: derogation to be granted since the regulations do not define how to interpret them with regard to a shared campus - however it is clear that other Scottish authorities have managed to deliver new shared campuses without recourse to Scottish Ministers for dispensation.
The documents we have obtained also include maps showing Victoria Park and the distance between this public space and the Logie site. We would ask if the council intends to use Victoria Park to provide playing fields in close proximity to the Logie site, as it is clear that there will be none on the site itself. We would also ask:
- What is so secret that the Education Convener wrote in an email that she considers it to be a "confidential" letter? It has not been made available to other councillors so we would assume the council would not have given any elected member access to the documents?
- What do parents think of the children using Victoria Park for the provision of playing fields for the new schools?
- What do the Friends of Balgay Park think about this information?
- What does the West End Community Council think about this?
- What do local residents on Blackness Road and surrounding areas think about this?
- What do teachers think about this, as they will be the ones that have to make time in the PE curriculum to walk with the children and supervise them in a public park which members of the public are entitled to visit and exercise their dogs?
- What will the council do to ensure the provision of suitable facilities with running water, changing facilities, first aid, telephones, marked sports pitches, fenced off areas for safe play, protection from dogs, enclosed all-weather pitches?
- What does Colin Rennie from Fields in Trust make of this, having previously cautioned the Director of Education against "seeking a waiver to obtain a level of provision less than is required by the regulations"?
- What is the view of Sportscotland regarding the loss of the existing St Joseph's playing field when the grounds are sold to the Al-Maktoum Foundation?
Victoria Park is not zoned for this in the Dundee Local Plan and council officers stated during public consultation, when asked, that they could not site the new schools in Victoria Park for this reason. What has changed between March and now?
I am a parent and have found out that the council applied for dispensation during the holidays and did not bother to tell me. THis is about my children and their lives. How dare they assume I would not be interested or care about such plans. He said and I heard him say ( Director of Education) that there was room on site for the 2 schools and a nursery. He stood in front of us parents and said so confidently. Now he changes his mind. If I did such a blunder at my job I would get the sack. He did not ask us parents about the dispensation. WE ARE THE ONES WHO LOOK OUT FOR THE KIDS MOST, how could he cause such hurt and wrongdoing. Then to not tell us about it. Slithering actions, how sad that the director of education is the very one to deprive my children.
ReplyDeleteI am a parent who previously did not object to the proposals as i had faith in the Director of Education to do the right thing for our children. How wrong and naive i have been. I have now been compelled to involve myself in this matter and was shocked to receive confirmation from one Local Councillor about this "confidential letter" that he too was being denied access to. The tide must now turn against this authority who have blantantly misled parents, teachers, constituents and indeed their own members alike.
ReplyDeleteI'd much rather that if this is indeed the only suitable site available in the West End, that the council built what was suitable on it. Why put more kids onto site than can accommodate them and try and throw in Victoria Park as a Playing Field in close proximity at the eleventh hour. This was never mentioned during the consultation period was it?
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