News

Calls to protect White House School site from developers

By Laura Herbert
March 01, 2013

Parents behind the Evendons Free School Project are lobbying the council to protect the former White House School site from housing development.

The site, in Finchampstead Road, is the group's preferred location to set up the borough's second free school.

The committee has received the backing of education provider CfBT and an application for a primary school serving children in the Evendons area has been submitted to the Department for Education (DfE).

White House School site could be sold for housing

Parents and the CfBT are set to be interviewed by the DfE on Friday, March 8.

The group will next meet at Evendons Hall, in Evendons Lane, at 8pm on Tuesday and welcome anyone who supports the plans and lobbying Wokingham Borough Council.

Free school plans gathering speed

A spokeswoman for the project said: "We need your support to help lobby the council to ensure the site remains for use by the community, and does not just become the latest piece of land to be sold for yet another housing development.

"With your help, our mission is to ensure children in the Evendons area aren’t diverted to schools all over the borough but get the chance to go to a school in the area and community where they live.

"We value your support and would encourage you to come along to meet the group, to hear our plans and to find out how you can help prevent housing development on the White House School site."

To find out more follow the group on Twitter or find them on Facebook.

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Most recent user comments 2 of 2

The whole big school model for primary education is a big part of our morning chaos. I don't think we would ever realise the admin cost savings of building a giant school on green belt over purchasing a ready to go school and employing a couple of handy men.

The social & private cost savings of 120 children going to a school they can walk 2 will out weigh that.

Of course by allowing development of greenbelt they can get the landowning developer to build the school. Since we are unable to invest in schools without the land use profiteering one can only assume that in 30 years we are going to have to develop in the green gaps to continue maintaining them.

My fear is that all the work the parents promoting Evendons free school have put in was on noises of support that Brian Gradey made when trying to appease parents for last years intake problems, only to be left in the learch because the simple solutions do not tick their boxes or print the council money in the form of selling farm land planning use.

Farm land eating short term money in a country that can already not supply its own food and energy. Local politics at its worse.

Kaz4Wokingham, Wokingham
03/03/2013 at 20:22

The site is more than suitable for a free school. It is in the heart of the area that needs a new school the most in Wokingham town, and is a bigger plot and size than some other Primary schools in the area. The main building may need some work, but there are classrooms and more modern extensions which are in a very good state and could be ready to use almost immediately. The free school group are asking for a one form entry primary school, with class sizes of 25. The White House site is the most obvious place for it. The alternative options for this area would all (other than Molly millars!) be green fields. As a resident of the area I would much rather see the White House retained as a community asset than knocked down for houses, only for a new school to be built on a field just down the road.