• Primary school funding drop in the water - Richmond Council (Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats)

• Primary school funding drop in the water - Richmond Council

December 8, 2009 5:52 PM

• [Dec 01] RICHMOND Council has today reacted to the government's announcement of additional funding for primary school places in London with frustration, saying that the allocation for its schools is a mere drop in the ocean.

16 London authorities with the greatest need have been allocated an extra £140 million. Richmond upon Thames however - one of the worst-affected boroughs in the country - receives only £3 million, a tiny fraction of the estimated £60 million it will need for extra places next year.

Commenting on the funding allocation Cllr Malcolm Eady, Cabinet Member for Children's Services and Education on Richmond Council said:

"This is a very disappointing settlement - a drop in the ocean. It is estimated that we will need to provide an extra 2,100 primary places from 2011 / 12 at a cost of £60 million. This is on top of the 1,050 extra places we are already adding at a cost of £32 million. We received just £3 million to meet this need while just across the road Wandsworth, for example, received £18 million. Now I am not quite sure how the government has calculated who gets what but I am sure that once again Richmond upon Thames and its residents have received a very bad deal.

"We have the best primary schools in the country and demand for places is always strong. The economic downturn has also hit us hard with more parents making the switch from the private sector and applying for places in our state schools. Finally an increase of 21% in the birth-rate in our borough between 2000 and 2007 has meant there are now more children that ever needing primary places in our borough."

Cllr Stephen Knight, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources, added:

"This is another example of how badly our borough is treated when it comes to grants from government. This disappointing offering follows on from a draft Grant settlement which makes an extra 87p per head of population available for our borough at a time when £3.2 Billion extra is being made available to councils. We are calling on the government to review the way it calculates funding for places like ours because it clearly is not fair."

Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats: