WHO TO BELIEVE???

Our Local Councillors (SGC and TTC) tell us that families are in decline and rolls are falling in local Primary Schools, and consequently we need to add vibrancy to our schools by building 500+ new houses on the edges of Thornbury, starting out with the beautiful and historic Park Farm Estate that edges onto Thornbury Castle.

National Newspapers tell a different story .....

(click mouse on newscutting to see it enlarged.)

Councillors have been very busy looking into the future in order to find justification for a housing project that has never received a mandate from the local residents of Thornbury - but the true fate of our Primary Schools may be very different if these projected national trends are to be believed. More housing for Thornbury could actually mean no spaces for local children in local schools as demand exceeds supply. (Remember - 500+ houses is the official line, but some reports have indicated 750, even 1,000 new houses to come)

And on the subject of schools, it's very difficult to get a straight answer as to how Councillors/Castle School is involved in the current wheeling and dealing with Barretts over building plans on those Park Farm fields behind the school that lead on to the Medieval Fishponds.
One thing we know for sure is that the Government, in the shape of Michael Gove, Education Secretary has absolutely pulled the plug on the "Building Schools for the Future" programme. Talk of a re-build for The Castle School, or a consolidation of the Sixth Form onto the main site at Park Road looks suddenly completely misplaced.
That may actually be a relief for local sixth-formers, many of whom cherish their sixth-form site, away from the main school, as one of its principle attractions. What would happen to "town vibrancy" too, if sixth-formers are located too far from the town centre to be able to "nip-in" for shopping and snacks?

So in the light of all this, any chance of our local councillors holding up their hands over the flawed justification of the Park Farm fields as a suitable site for housing development, and saying "Sorry, we got that one wrong....."??
We can but hope.
Please keep drawing your councillors' attentions to these injustices and inaccuracies that are being perpetrated by ELECTED representatives.
Local Elections in May 2011 might prove to be our only recourse.