388 kids without a school place
Lambeth’s Lib Dem controlled council has today admitted that 388 children have not been offered a secondary school place this year. That means that the council has failed to find a place for 16% of the children who have reached secondary school age this year. The new figures expose the failure of the Liberal Democrats to build new schools during their 4 years in charge at Lambeth, despite the Government offering millions to build new schools. The Liberals have still failed to start work on the two new schools the Government promised to pay for and turned down £20 million for a third new school in the centre of the borough. Across the country local authorities have hugely improved secondary school provision by taking advantage of investment from the Labour Government. In Lambeth long delays due to administrative incompetence and internal disputes mean that schools on Shakespeare Road and Elmcourt were delayed for years. The results have been disastrous for many local children who have been left without a local school place. Should Labour councillors take control of the council in May they have pledged to: “Open two new secondary schools, work towards building a third, and expand other popular schools” Cllr Sally Prentice, Education Spokesperson for Lambeth’s Labour Opposition said: "The stress this causes for hundreds of local families must be intolerable. It is unacceptable that so many of Lambeth’s children do not have an offer of a local place - if the Lib Dems had got a move on with the Elmcourt Road and Shakespeare Road schools we'd have an additional 360 places in Lambeth by now” “They have bungled every stage of the new
schools building process and it’s local children who are suffering
as a result. “
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