Building Woodlands Meed School Special School, Burgess Hill: The Latest

Campaigners have come out fighting after West Sussex County Council issued an ultimatum to the governors of a special school about the building of a new college.

Campaigners have come out fighting after West Sussex County Council issued an ultimatum to the governors of a special school about the building of a new college.

A letter was sent to governors of Woodlands Meed, in Burgess Hill, during half-term, giving them until Thursday (November 4) to sign a Development Agreement, which needs to be approved before building work can begin.

And it warned that, if the paperwork was not signed, ‘the proposal to develop a new college on the Woodlands Meed site will be withdrawn and the project will not proceed as planned’.

Members of the Complete Woodlands Meed School Campaign said they would demand a full investigation if the ultimatum should come to pass.

Warning that ‘heads would roll’ if the children were let down again, a spokesman said:

“We don’t care about any politics at play. This is about SEN children’s actual lives.

“They need the correct facilities to support them day in day out and a full curriculum to afford equal opportunity to reach their full potential.

“We will never stop this campaign until these most vulnerable pupils get their basic statutory rights delivered and are no longer discriminated against.”

Parents and staff have been among those campaigning for a new college since the lower school was opened in Chanctonbury Road in 2012.

With the money for the college never materialising, older children have been educated in prefabricated buildings, in Birchwood Grove Road, which even the council said were not suitable.

In 2020, the council agreed to use £20m from the capital programme to build a new college – plus £1.66m announced last week – with planning permission given earlier this year.

But governors have raised a number of issues with the plans.

In the spring, they asked the council to make more than 180 corrections to plans and documents.

And while some of the issues have been dealt with, others have not, prompting repeated communications between the two.

The campaign spokesman said:

“As we have said many times before, [the council] is responsible for sorting out the mess they created over a decade ago.

“So the burning question is, what is their plan B if the governors, for valid reasons, simply cannot sign by November 4?”

The Governors Response (Wednesday, November 3, 9.30am):

Woodlands Meed governors have asked West Sussex County Council to extend a deadline set for the signing of a Development Agreement.

In a letter sent during the half-term holiday, the council warned that the agreement needed to be signed by Thursday (November 4) or proposals to build a new college would be withdrawn.

In an open letter to Tony Kershaw, the council’s director of law & assurance, governors at the school, in Burgess Hill, said their legal representative – who was on holiday when the letter arrived – would not be able respond before the deadline.

In the spring, governors asked the council to make more than 180 corrections to plans and documents for the new college.

Asking for an extension to the deadline, chair of governors Marion Wilcock highlighted a number of issues which she said had yet to be dealt with.

She said:

“We discovered that the ceiling heights in certain rooms were too low to allow safe moving and hoisting of pupils, and that, without consultation with the school, the tracking system has been changed to one which is not suitable. 

“The provision of a fully functional, properly operating hoist system is an essential requirement for a generic SEND school.”

Ms Wilcock said the school had worked with the contractors and hoist manufacturers to find a solution but were still waiting for the final report. 

The governors also raised concerns about a mobile classroom which will be used for 15 months while the college is built.

In her letter to Mr Kershaw, Ms Wilcock said there was a safeguarding issue as the classroom will have no access ramp – essential for children with mobility problems – and no WCs.

As well as calling for a deadline extension, the governors also asked for an urgent meeting with officers ‘who are empowered to make decisions so these essential items can be resolved’.

A council spokesman failed to say whether an extension to the deadline would be granted.

He added:

“The issues raised in the email have previously been considered.

“All the points raised are either addressed in the development agreement or will form part of future documents as the design is further developed by the contractor and the subcontractor, as is standard practice for similar projects at this stage.”

While the governors have received unending support from the likes of the Complete Woodlands Meed School campaign,

Writing on social media, Pete Bradbury (Con, Cuckfield & Lucastes), chairman of the county council, said:

“Tell the governors to stop prevarication; their delaying has already added £1.66 million to the cost. 

“Sign the agreement and we can get started and build the school our children need.”