New School for North Kensington?
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea hopes to build a new secondary school in North Kensington at the Kensington Leisure Centre site on Walmer Road. Golborne Forum has welcomed the possibility of a new school, with reservations that it is to be an academy, and strong concerns about the Leisure Centre’s future, especially regarding the swimming facilities.The council has been conducting a consultation exercise and Golborne Forum has made a submission to detail its concerns.
Although the planned development is not in Golborne Ward, it potentially has a major impact on Golborne residents. Every year, many school students in the ward have to travel long distances to secondary school because there’s a shortage of places in the Royal Borough, so a new school will be welcome. There’s also a strong concern that Golborne’s local swimming pool might be closed during the course of the development.
In principle, the Forum strongly supports the development of a new, co-educational, non-denominational secondary school. Reluctantly, the Forum has accepted that the school will be an academy, but is relieved that it will not be a faith school. It should be open to students of all faiths and none, which is appropriate for Golborne’s rich mix of faiths and cultures.
The Forum is looking for specific guarantees from the council that the existing swimming pool won’t be closed until a new one is ready for use. It also wants any new pool to be at least as big as the current one, preferably larger, with a similar guarantee for the children’s pool.
The Council’s consultation document says that the current leisure centre might not be redeveloped as part on the new school project, in which case the existing facility would be retained. This would be a good outcome, which would allay local fears that the existing pool and other sports facilities will be closed and that either lack of funding will prevent new facilities being built, or that there may ultimately be only one, smaller pool.
The Forum has pointed out before that the Kensington Leisure Centre has twice been refurbished with public money in the last 30 years, and drawn attention to the waste of money involved in tearing it down.
The Forum is concerned that the new school will have no car parking for staff. Although it’s good to encourage the use of public transport, this may exclude potential staff who do not live near the school or to easily accessible public transport. This could mean that the best candidates may not apply, and the school will not be as effective as it could and should be.
Finally, the Forum supports the requirement that the new school should be part of a district heating network and the hub of a combined heat and power facility.