Edward Davey MP has hailed as “fabulous”, news Kingston will receive £8.2m in Government funding to deal with the primary school places crisis, but warned more money will be needed for a permanent solution.
Schools Minister Vernon Coaker MP announced the money, £5m more than the council expected, on Monday to “help local authorities with the most pressing need”.
Mr Davey called a parliamentary debate on London primary school places on March 3, when the Government said there should be no unexpected demand for places because of rise in birth rate.
In July it announced a stop-gap £200m fund to help councils, and a Kingston delegation met ministers in August to argue the borough needed more funding. Monday’s announcement increased the total package, to be split between 34 local authorities, to £271m.
Mr Davey said: “I want to thank all those who signed our petitions and especially the councillors and council officers at Kingston and other London boroughs who helped Susan Kramer and I make the case to Government ministers.
“The £8.2m is for investment next year, so this should mean that we get some of the permanent new classrooms Kingston needs opened and ready for September 2011.”
Councillor Patricia Bamford, executive member for young people’s services, said: “Kingston has been at the forefront of identifying the specific issues around the growth of school population regionally and nationally.
“As a member of London Councils’ children and young people’s forum, I pressured to get this on the agenda which resulted in the comprehensive document, Do the Maths, to which I and Kingston Council officers contributed.
“I welcome the response from Government to the exceptional circumstances we have found ourselves in and the recognition from them that still more support will be needed in the future.”
On Tuesday, the council's executive committee agreed to consult on a strategy to permanently expand 12 primary schools and build a new school on the Surbiton Hospital site. Final decisions about individual schools are expected in early summer 2010.
Duncan Clark, interim head of children and learning services, said: “Whilst this is more funding than we had expected at this stage and it will part-fund the permanent expansion of our primary schools, it will not address all of our longer term needs.”
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