Parents in North Leeds hit out over free school site delay

The Roundhay Park Primary free school had been given the initial go ahead to open next September but it has been delayed after being unable to secure a site.

Parents are now calling for answers about how demand for reception places will be met in Roundhay in 2017.

There was major controversy in 2015 after more than 80 parents said they had no chance of getting into local schools. A campaign resulted in three schools taking on extra pupils and another school, Talbot Primary has taken on a bulge class this year.

Roundhay Park Primary would have provided 60 places for next year but there have been issues with the preferred site which is owned by Leeds City Council.

Now a parents’ letter is being sent to the Department for Education calling for it to put pressure on the council to resolve the issue.

It has been signed by more than 40 people on behalf of members of a Facebook group called Fair Access 2016 and Beyond - set up for parents concerned about school places in North Leeds. The Facebook group is separate to the Fair Access Trust which is bidding to open Roundhay Park Primary free school.

It asks Education Secretary Justine Greening to help ensure Leeds City Council “urgently identify how the 2017 places shortfall will be addressed and communicate openly with parents, providing them the information that they need to support them through the application process.”

It also says the council need to “act as a matter of urgency to identify a site and give it the go ahead”. It adds: “If the council really feels it is not possible to identify an acceptable site, we need them to provide us with an alternative permanent solution.”

North Leeds parent Emma Edgell told the Yorkshire Post that following the free school delay the council also needed to urgently reassure parents about plans for 2017.

She said parents were worried that the bulge classes in previous years were one-offs that could not be repeated and that there was no clear plan for 2017 other than the free school.

Leeds City Council have said that it is the Government’s Education Funding Agency (EfA) which has responsibility for finding a site for the free school. A spokeswoman said: “We have been working together to find a suitable site for the new free school in Roundhay, to provide much needed primary school places for families. The Fair Access Trust and the council are clear about the area that the new school needs to serve.” It said the EFA has carried out a search which had included council owned sites. It adds: “Sadly there are no straightforward sites in this area that could be easily converted for a new school. Consequently the process was always going to be complicated and the time available for the EFA to be able to commit to this free school opening for 2017 has been very limited. There was a preferred site but following initial investigations it became clear that this would be extremely difficult to deliver and on that basis we are continuing to explore a number of alternative sites.” The council said that “because the area of need is already built up with housing and abuts parkland and Green Belt there are no easy solutions.”

The Fair Access Trust said: “As a Trust we do understand the concerns of the parents. We are continuing to communicate and work constructively both with Leeds City Council and the Education Funding Agency to try and find a solution to our site issue.”