Council defends Itself on School Transfer


Report shows that it will lose money on Peterborough School deal

Hammersmith and Fulham Council has been accused of giving away its assets too cheaply after a deal was struck with the French Government to lease Peterborough School on Monday.

 

Peterborough Primary School in Sands Ends closed its doors this month after more than 100 years of providing education to children in the borough.

 

Now it will be leased to the French Government for £200,000 a year, which the council's own report says is below its market rate of £283,000.

 

The report says the council will lose at least £700,000 on the deal.

 

A blogger for HFConwatch, a site critical of the Conservative controlled Hammersmith and Fulham Council, said: "How can the Tories justify giving away public assets so cheaply with no benefit to local people? What is the special relationship between the French government and H&F Tory councillors?"
 

However, Councillor Antony Lillis defended the decision and said it would offer local parents 'new school choices'.

 

He said: "We will be talking further to the French school about our using their expertise to offer bilingual schooling within our own state school system in the future. In the short term, leasing this site, when it becomes vacant, to another school rather than selling it commercially, makes sense. "It will help retain the current community atmosphere and makes good use of public resources."

 

According to the council just over four per cent of children in the borough are from French families. Many of these children are currently travelling across the border to South Kensington and will now have the choice to attend a school in Hammersmith and Fulham.

In addition to this, the council is keen to use this partnership

as a catalyst to offering local children bilingual places in the future.  The council plans to work in partnership with the French Government on the lines of the Ecole de Wix in Wandsworth.

July 20, 2008