For many years the need for school places in Rushcliffe has been growing and schools have struggled to keep up. With so many new homes being built, it has got to the point that many children are now unable to get into their local school and are having to travel out-of-area, away from their friends. This situation was predictable years ago.
Recognising how bad they have allowed the situation to get, County Councillors held a meeting on 17th March and agreed to move forward urgently on a plan to build two new schools on land at Regatta Way Sports Ground. This decision prioritised speed and ease over all other considerations: there has been minimal consultation with locals and the site was chosen mainly because the land is already owned by the Council and wouldn’t need major roadworks to build a school on it.
If Councillors had made the effort to look ahead and plan for what our community might need at the time when housebuilding was being approved, we wouldn’t now be in a situation where the location of available land is more important than the fact that the schools problem is worst around Ruddington, or that ease of building is more important than the environmental risk of building on a floodplain, and that building here puts the long-term future of our sports facility under threat.
If elected, I would work to make sure that our future needs are considered in good time, so that the options can be considered properly and residents can be more involved when important decisions are being made about our future community.
Labour Party in Rushcliffe 