A Fairview school for Enfield?

There were strong words and strong feelings at Joan Ryan's coffee morning yesterday. In fact, it rapidly became a protest meeting against Fairview Homes' proposal to build a school and 300 homes on land just off Enfield Road.

Here are the facts as far as I know them. There's nothing about this proposal on Fairview's website and its all subject to change and negotiation - especially with the council.

School places
There is a need for more secondary school places both here and in other parts of the borough. The council believes that this area will need a new school by 2018. However, Southgate school is currently under-subscribed.

The land
The land, 34 acres, is a triangle bounded by Enfield Road, Lowther Drive and Cottswold Way. It's now owned by the (CoE) Diocese of London who sold Fairview Homes a 15 year option to buy the land in about 2004.

The proposal
Fairview proposes to exercise its option (ie buy the land). It will give the community about one third of the land for a school and build 300 dwellings (flats and houses) on the rest. Fairview has already started detailed work on these proposals. The meeting was shown a mocked-up aerial photo of the site. Fairview plans two access roads off Enfield Road making a one-way system possible at rush hour.

About 60 homes (20%) would be so-called 'affordable'. It's important to recognise that this does not mean that people on average incomes swill be able to afford them! What it does mean will doubtless become known in time. But whatever it means it's half the London target.

Fairview can do nothing without planning permission. This will be difficult because the land is part of the Green Belt and an Area of Special Character (sic) and because there will clearly be a lot of opposition from local residents. One told the meeting that her house would lose £40,000 in value.

The process
It's likely that Fairview is already discussing these plans with Council officers.


Fairview has written to 16 local schools asking if they want to be its partner in the new school. The governors of Highlands have expressed interest. The headteacher has said that if Highlands is to be the partner it will be necessary for it to become an Academy.

It is, I struggle to find the right word, STRANGE - ABSURD - OFFENSIVE, that a property developer should be deciding who will run a new state school!

To gain local support (presumably) Fairview will start a consultation exercise in September. To be involved contact Jennifer-Edwards@FourCommunication.com.

Fairview may submit a planning application in October, If so they will clearly have ignored the results of the consultation. If the application is rejected Fairview may appeal. Such an appeal would have a good chance of success as the Planning system is biased in favour of developers.

The alternatives

1. Eight-form entry implies a huge school. Since smaller schools work better we should think about several smaller schools.
2. The old Middlesex Uni. site at Trent Park is still unused and could host a school.
3. St. Anne's Catholic school is due to move to Palmers Green leaving that site clear.

The path to privatisation
Local authorities are losing control of schools as they become academies, reversing over 100 years of democratic responsibility. Many academies have a commercial sponsor so Fairview's initiative is just part of the privatisation process.

State schools are still non-profit but the need to compete with other schools encourages a competitive mindset. An increasing number now have marketing departments - a thing unthinkable even 20 years ago.

The Tory government believes that the private sector does almost everything better than the public sector. Since it knows that immediate privatisation would be unacceptable it is encouraging a variety of forms of commercial involvement. This is one.

I am number 922!

No, I'm not in gaol! That's the number of the certificate given to me by local 38 Degrees members at last Friday's hustings to show that I've received the NHS petition. It's an odd feeling - I'm more used to being an activist for change than one of those being lobbied!

Of course I welcome the petition which asks me to defend the NHS, resist privatisation and provide sufficient funding - all of which is both my personal commitment and the policy of my party.

Our priority in the new parliament should be to reverse the current privatisation and restore the duty of the Secretary of State to provide a universal NHS. You know, like we used to have.

But then there are major challenges for the NHS:

• We should give mental health parity with physical health.
• We should integrate social and medical care
• We should ensure that treatment is as good at weekends as on weekdays.

In the long run (and this got applause at the hustings) we need to address the causes of ill health which include poor diet, lack of exercise, economic inequality and excessive consumption of alcohol.

I'd like to believe that good policies on food, housing transport, tax, air quality, etc., would reduce the need for spending on treating disease. But I don't. I think they will reduce the need to increase that spending. The growth is driven by our longer lives and the ingenuity of doctors and scientists in devising new treatments - which in turn extend our lives.

Some campaigns I support

Since becoming a candidate I have agreed to support the following causes (sorry for lack of detail!). I've also offered qualified support to a number of others:

• CND's opposition to replacing Trident.
• CAMRA's manifesto (beer and pubs)
• Crisis' No One Turned Away (homelessness)
• Cancer Research's Cross Cancer Out campaign
• Barnado's and others A Stitch in Time campaign
• The Royal Statistical Society;'s Data Manifesto
• The Public Service Users Bill
• Traidcraft
• The Frack Free promise (FoE and Greenpeace)
• The League Against Cruel Sports' five animal welfare calls.
• The Living Streets Manifesto
• Compassion in World Farming
• Breast Cancer Campaign
• The OneKind pledge
• The Campaign for the Preservation of Rural England's manifesto.
• The Local Goverbnm,ent Association's four points
• The RSPB's I'm Backing Bob campaign
• The Disability Benefits Consortium's 5 asks
• The CTC
• The Terrence Higgins Trust
• The Empty Homes Agency
• The LGBT Whip
• London Cycling Campaign's demand to remove TSRGD
• The Tibet Society's demand for human rights for Tibet.
• The ASI

Answering my mail: The NHS

Like every candidate I've had scores of e-mails about the NHS. (Thanks 38 Degrees!) Every one expresses fears about its future under the coalition. They think that the creation of an internal 'market' (by Labour) and the obligation to allow private firms to bid for contracts (by the coalition) will worsen service, cause fragmentation of the NHS and ultimately lead to more charges to patients. Perhaps, ultimately, to a US-style insurance system.

One correspondent listed six relatives who had suffered major medical problems. I sympathise - I owe the lives of my wife and one daughter to its work.

I don't think our fear of privatisation is paranoid. It's what Nigel Farage wants (which probably doesn't matter) but also what some Tories want (which may). So I've been happy to share my principles for the NHS:

1. I support the NHS as a public service that should be firmly in the public sector. If elected I would support the NHS Reinstatement Bill, promoted by Green MP Caroline Lucas, whose purpose is to reverse the current drive to privatise the NHS.
2. I would stop further service contracts from being given to private businesses in all but the most exceptional circumstances. I have attended meetings of the local Clinical Commissioning Group to speak against privatisation.
3. I am, like the rest of the Green Party and unlike the mainstream parties, opposed to TTIP. I would vote against it.
4. I would certainly vote more money for the NHS.

My immediate priorities, if elected, would be to address the problems created by ideological meddling by the last two governments. I would also want to sharply increase the work done on disease prevention. In the longer term I believe we need to rethink the relationships between the NHS and local authorities, especially in the care of the elderly.

You can find the party's full health policies at http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/he.html. It's worth stressing that Greens see health as more than the absence of disease and health policy as being as much concerned with diet, exercise, housing and working conditions as with healthcare in the usual sense.