Barham Park Commercialisation?

Martin Francis has once again set a hare running with a feasibility study on rebuilding Barham Park. It is worth recalling the history of this site. Back in 2009/2010 the then leader of the Council wanted to erect a tower block within the Park and wanted to build it on the site of the two park keepers cottages already there. This led to a lot of concern and may have been part of the reason for the defeat of his party in the Council elections of 2010. The incoming Labour administration reversed the decision his defeated administration had made in March, and installed a covenant against further building on the site. This land was sold to a local company with the the legal protection in place, but the covenant has now been abolished, so the owner can now build on the area concerned. Some people appear to think the covenant has been abolished because of a payment to either the Trust or the Council but I think this is unlikely. The rest of the Park remains (so far as I am aware) subject to the terms of the original bequest by Mr Barham “to preserve the same for the recreation of the public". I don't see how this is possible to reconcile with some of the functions envisaged e.g. AirBnB or supermarket usage. I remember being given highly restrictive advice on this by officers in the past including not using the site for a school. It will also be interesting to see how the member of the Trust Committee reconcile any vote they cast in Council with the votes they cast as members of the Trust.

Council Schools Rated Highly by Ofsted

Ofsted rates Council schools higher than academies, according to the Guardian. This cals into question the determined effort by the present government to get all schools turned into academies. It also suggests that the current role of School Commissioners based in the Education department just can't cope and something closer to the actual schools is needed.