Agenda and draft minutes

Liz Carter welcomed the Local Board to her school and spoke briefly about how wonderful the school is doing; despite the problems with the building.

The Chairman, Chris Capon, introduced himself and asked other Members to say who they were.  He gave apologies for Robert Bliss and Susan Carey.

There were no declarations of interest.

Grahame Ward talked about his time as a pupil at Seabrook School and said that over 48 years ago a new building had been promised.  KCC was fully aware of the poor state of the school but funding a new building was always going to be an issue. With the credit crunch and problems with Northern Rock the Governments capital build programme was very disappointing with KCC getting £48m less than we were expecting. The planned KCC education capital programme requires £142m of capital receipts but at the moment there is no market to buy KCC properties and nothing would be raised from selling the current school site. So the reality was that KCC was not in a position to rebuild Seabrook school at present.

Q. The Chairman welcomed the Hythe Town Mayor who said a year ago Penny Roan had promised a new school for 2010. It now does not sound as “when” will it now be built but “if” it will ever be built at all.

A. For the next three years there is no funding but a new building is a priority.

Q. We have heard that all before, even in 1960 KCC was saying that!

Q. Will my child, who is now in reception, see a new school before she leaves Seabrook or will she be a grown up mother herself before we get a new school?

A. There is KCC commitment for a new school and that is unlikely to change.

Q. The mayor said he was brought in as a school governor when the school was in special measures. Paul Carter, now KCC Leader, promised a new school over 5 years ago.

A. The initial planning for a new school was refused and that delay did not help.

Q. The current planning consent will run out and then we will have to go through the long winded process again.

A. KCC together with Shepway District Council will ensure the current approved plans are not lost but will be renewed. Alistair Stewart, SDC Chief Executive confirmed this.

Q. What about using the values from the sale of land?

A. The value of the school site is only £400K and the mission hall £300K.

Q. What other new school developments have now got brakes on?

A. With the exception of secondary schools all primary new builds are on hold. Seabrook is the only primary school that we constantly talk about at KCC and I am committed to its rebuild. We have 25,000 pupils being taught in 748 mobile classrooms and that is also unacceptable.

Q. Has not the Government said that should not happen?

A. Yes and in the next four years we hope to cut this by 40%.

Q If the school modernisation programme is on hold but some is going ahead why not allow Seabrook.

A. Some schemes have started but only in secondary schools. The Government have allocated £1.8billion capital budget for secondary education but only £150m for primary; and there is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Chairman welcomed Alistair Stewart who gave an update on the Hythe swimming pool.  He said there were still no firm proposals except there was a firm commitment to build a new pool.  SDC was talking to developers at Nickolls Quarry.  Nothing yet has been put to the district councillors and if someone has an alternative site with a funding package it will be considered.

Q. We have lost £10m Sports England funding.  What about Brockhill School, can’t you build a public pool there?

When the pool was built in Hythe the land sales went to SDC. The current pool site must be worth a considerable amount which can fund a new pool in Hythe.

A. There is a potential funding package at Nickolls Quarry and if I was living in Hythe I would want a new pool near where it is now. But we don’t have the money and the discussions at Nickolls Quarry have been going on for a couple of years.

Q. The mayor said people were not happy with the idea of the development NQ and when will it go ahead anyway?

A. Alistair said he did not understand how NQ got into the development plan but it will take place at sometime and we need to get all we can out of the developers for the good of the community.  Dick Pascoe said he recognised the need to find a partner to fund the pool.

Q. Why can’t you take 106 money from the development of the Hythe Imperial Hotel to pay for the pool?

A. There would be insufficient funds from 106 money as only £10m is to be spent on the hotel development.

Q. Fred Wood-Brignall asked about Romney Marsh. He said a new pool was also need there. He thought the Academy school would be an ideal location for a pool.

A. Alistair said with a pool in Folkestone the Hythe pool was perhaps too close and ideally he would like one on Romney Marsh.

Q. We need pools close together there is a demand. Hythe is owned by SDC and Folkestone by the Trust.

A. SDC will continue to support both. £186K is given to the Trust but more is given to the pool in Hythe.

Q. What can we do to assist you?

A. The main consultees are Hythe Aqua and Hythe Town Council but the plans for NQ are due to go to SDC in October and I see the development of the pool happening before the new housing.

Chris Capon thanked Alistair for his input to the meeting.

Gill Bromley spoke about the National Year of Reading and gave us the attached presentation. She said this had been the best year for Libraries at the County Show as they focused on the need of young people who were invited to chose books for their local libraries.

Q. I can walk into Waterstones and easily find three books I would like to read but in my Library I can barely find one book.

A. We are learning a lot from bookshops and how to better market what we do.

Q. Can I get books mentioned on radio and TV?

A. Yes you can. We are part of 18 authorities who pool their money to get bigger discounts from publishers and we now get the latest books very quickly.

Peter Welsh made a plug for the KCC Library Service internet site. He said we often don’t value what we get for free but the site is wonderful and a goldmine of useful information.

Q. Can Sandgate Library open more often and on a Saturday?

A. Jan Rudolph said she is meeting with the Parish Council to discuss this as they share the same building.

Chris thanked Gill and everyone for attending and closed the meeting.

The next Local Board will be on 24 September at Palmarsh primary school at 6.30pm