Last week the Liberal Democrat County Councillors criticised the fact that the condition of Herts schools are in the worst 8% in the country. In a motion put to Herts County Council at its last Council Meeting, the Lib Dems called for an improvement in standards and criticised the way the Tory administration had let the buildings deteriorate over the years.
‘It was depressingly predictable that the Tories used their majority to vote this motion down. They even said that we should not even have brought the matter up, said Lib Dem County Councillor Malcolm Cowan, Vice-Chair of the County Scrutiny Committee.
‘They claimed that Hertfordshire’s good exam results showed there was not a problem, as if the crisis conditions in many of our schools didn’t matter, or somehow magically made education better.
‘But the biscuit came when Labour neither spoke nor took a position. They just sat on their hands and abstained. Teachers, parents and children must wonder about a world where only one political party sees such a shocking report on school buildings as a matter of concern.”
Tring’s Lib Dem County Councillor, Nick Hollinghurst, commented,
“The report in question involved only Hertfordshire schools controlled by HCC, not academies, and they were mainly primary schools. But far too many schools, such as Tring School, entered academy status with buildings in poor condition, leaking heat out and sometimes leaking rain in.”
“Fortunately the Coalition Government with a Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Education, David Laws, launched its Priority School Building Programme in May 2011 and 261 schools were awarded emergency funding for major repairs. In July 2014 bids were invited from local authority schools and academy for a second wave of major repair funding helping 277 schools. In Hertfordshire the County Council made bids on behalf of 16 of its schools and and unknown number of academies made direct bids. 8 county schools and 7 academies submitted successful bids, among which was Tring School.”
“So, thanks to the Coalition Government Tring can now put right years of neglect by the Tory-run County Council.”
Thanks to Coventry Telegraph for the illustrative picture.