Telford to get new schools, say bosses

Monday 7th June 2010, 3:24PM BST.

Work is already under way on the new £25 million Abraham Darby Academy

Council bosses are to plough ahead with multi-million pound plans to rebuild schools across Telford & Wrekin despite fears the new coalition Government could scrap the scheme.

Work is already under way on the new £25 million Abraham Darby Academy, but fears were voiced today for the future of the next of the 14 rebuilds – the £20 million Dawley Sports and Learning Community.

Both redevelopments are part of the previous Labour government’s £55 billion Building Schools for the Future programme, which the new Tory-Lib Dem administration has said it is going to review.

Schools and local authorities have been urgently seeking guarantees since news of the review broke last Friday, but the Department for Education has insisted no decision has been taken.

Secondary schools in authorities that have been approved to enter the Building Schools for the Future project, but have not yet named their contractors, may now lose their funding.

Telford & Wrekin Council’s education spokesman Councillor Stephen Burrell said the authority was continuing with its programme to rebuild and revamp schools across the borough.

He said an outline planning application for the new sports and learning community in Dawley will go before the council’s plans board on June 23.

The new site will replace the Phoenix School on a new site at Paddock Mount. He added: “We appreciate the financial mess the country has been left in but, despite this, we will continue to press our case and are confident in the quality of our plans.”

Great Dawley Parish Council member Councillor Shaun Davies said rumours were rife that the new Phoenix School would not now be built.

By Simon Hardy

View more: Dawley news, Telford news, Telford & Wrekin news, Telford & Wrekin Council news.

1
Colin U.

June 7, 2010 at 16:47

Nowt like wasting public funds on pointlessly oversized signs, a sixth of the size would have perfectly adequate. I suppose the council tax will be hiked to pay for this sort of wasteful spending.

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2
faz asis

June 7, 2010 at 19:16

is is INSANE, we are skint, we must cut public spending now, make do with the old school for another ten years at least as that labour loser said THERE IS NO MONEY LEFT!

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3
Johnny Boy

June 7, 2010 at 20:04

We need the jobs this will bring, especially in Dawley. The High St works have made a couple of jobs but nothing like what a big school building site will create.

The council must push this through and get started on site before they can cancel it in london.

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- Rob, Telford
  
  June 8, 2010 at 12:39
  
  Jobs – yes…..rebuilding schools just to create jobs – NO.
  
  There is a massive backlog of infrastructure maintenance in Telford that could provide many jobs for many years, doing work that actually needs doing – just look at the state of our roads and footpaths, and the disgusting rubbish-strewn condition of most of our open spaces.
  
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  - spencer
    
    June 11, 2010 at 14:25
    
    Look at the long term Rob…
    
    We need new schools to educate the litter pickers of tomorrow, that will get your open spaces clear..
    
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4
K Williams

June 8, 2010 at 08:55

If the planning application for the new sports and learning community in Dawley does not go before the council until June 23rd, why have all the trees already been cut down? This new sports and learning centre was never mentioned on the original plans for the regeneration of Dawley, now it seems the council are trying to bulldoze it through. If I or any person in the area tried to do something like this without planning permission I am sure the council would be very quick to take action against me!

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5
DevisChair

June 8, 2010 at 12:52

If this fails for whatever reason – will the council re-plant trees for the future – and also to stop potential landslides (remember, well, I don’t need to say about landslips really.)

We all know what happens – we’ve seen it before – the whole thing will go through, they’ll start building it – then some austerity will happen and it will get cut short – so that all the extras like community provision will get lost and we’ll end up with what really is a fancy factory unit with some glass and aluminium bolted on and a roof that bakes people in the summer and costs the earth (sic) in the winter.. have you been in one of these new buildings..?

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6
Kay

June 8, 2010 at 21:23

There are 14 Cllrs on Great Dawley Parish
Shaun Davies appears to rant loudest. A higher authority confirms he does not speak for GDP on this matter his comments are his own. Seems like everything this person utters is a condemnation of Dawley and its people.

The trees are gone get over it, a bizarre sign draws attention to a slag heap and is declared by its manufacturers to be an emblem of shame. Doom, gloom and pessimism Dawley has it all, it starts with the oldest inhabitants and is nurtured through the generations. Nothing pleases these people moaning and whinging is a way of life. For them there is no need for new housing or education provision their needs have been well catered for and subsequent generations will just have to go without.
Not my Children they deserve the best they will be the first intake of the new Phoenix in 3yrs time and I will be there cheering and smiling and grateful.

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7
adam23

June 9, 2010 at 15:27

surely this cannot be afforded any more ?

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8
Y Mab Darogan

June 10, 2010 at 00:14

The only school in Telford worth it’s weight in gold is Thomas Telford.

No matter how often other school’s are rebuilt it will not change the fact that they are all lower in standard to Thomas Telford.

Thomas Telford is a selective and does pick the brightest pupil’s in Telford but again this is down to parenting not rebuilding school’s.

So to sum up – invest in teaching Telford parents how to be better parents not in knocking down old school’s and replacing them with new

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9
Peter

June 10, 2010 at 14:14

Y Mab,

Whilst i would agree with you that TT is selective, it doesn’t select on academic ability. It takes pupils from all ranges of ability. As to how it selects it pupils from within these ‘slices’ is concerned, that’s pretty much a mystery, especially to parents.

Potential pupils sit a test, but this isn’t a pass/fail test, it’s to assess which of the ‘slices’ they might fall into if selected.

As for it being ‘the only school in Telford worth it’s weight in gold’, both Newport Girls High and, I believe, Adams Grammar come within Telford and Wrekin rather than Shropshire education authority.

Their results are often better than Thomas Telford’s, despite the fact that all of their pupils tend to be entered for exams, rather than just the sub set likely to pass. On the other hand, both are selective grammar schools, so you might expect their pupils to be generally the highest academic performers.

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