No progress on new secondary school for Rugby as borough and county Tories remain divided over decision

A site has been allocated by the borough council for a new secondary school at Coton Park East to meet the demands from the new housing in the area and thereby stopping pupils needing to walk along the busy Leicester Road to get to existing secondary schools such as Avon Valley.

The borough says it has money from developer contributions to go towards buying the land or building the school.

But the decision to go ahead with a school is a decision for the county council as the education authority.

Both are Conservative-run but the long-running stand-off over the plans remain as strong as ever after the meeting, called by the borough council, on Tuesday evening, January 17.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Kam Kaur, portfolio holder for education at the county council, told the Advertiser: "Warwickshire County Council is responsible for ensuring there are sufficient school places.

"Our data shows a new school is not needed in the north of Rugby. This data has been verified by an independent review; the outcome of which has been shared with the borough council. The county council has already agreed sufficient additional places with schools for September 2023 and is in discussion with several schools about the provision of additional places for the longer term.

"The county council cannot spend taxpayers’ money on a new school which would cost over £50 million when places can be (and will be) provided far more cost-effectively through existing schools.

"Although a site has been identified in the local plan, this site has not been secured and the county council would need to purchase it from the landowner. Whilst some developer funding would be available towards the cost of a new school, there would be a significant shortfall."

Borough council leader Cllr Seb Lowe told the Advertiser: “It’s simply not an option for this school not to be delivered. We have fulfilled our side of the bargain and the county needs to fulfil theirs.”

Further discussions between county and borough will take place but Cllr Lowe remains convinced the data the county is using to justify its position is at odds with what people see in reality of streams of young people forced to walk to other schhols: “The data produced by the county council bears so little resemblance to what we all see on the ground that it should be ringing alarm bells.

“Last night I offered the county council the opportunity to have the Borough Council pay for a new and independent review of the data to determine the picture once and for all. Whilst it is disappointing that the county’s cabinet member for education chose to reject that offer, I still hope that she will reconsider when she has reflected on the strength of feeling in the room.

" As things stand today there is total agreement at Rugby Borough Council on the need for a new school, and yet Warwickshire County Council continues to oppose a fresh look at the data on projected need for school places - despite the fact that there are so many questions around their methodology.”

While there has been long-standing support at the borough for a new school, opposition parties voiced their concerns that two Conservative councils – plus a Conservative MP – had not been able to work things out.

Lib Dem group leader Cllr Jerry Roodhouse said: “Clearly the issue of a new school is more complex than has been presented. The methodology used is a standard one which the Department for Education use.

“My conclusion from last night is the land has to be bought and the numbers presented did not justify a new school cost circa £50 to £60 million.

“It is disappointing that our MP has not made representation to the Department for Education and the county council needs to fully engage with the borough, this should include elected borough and county councillors.

"It’s Conservative, Conservative, Conservative – can’t you just sort it out?”

Labour councillors also pointed out there had been a total failure to work together between the two Conservative councils.

The group’s spokesperson for education at county and borough, Cllr Barbara Brown, said: “Between 2011 and 2021, the population of Rugby rose by an astronomical 14.3 per cent, the largest growth of any local authority in the West Midlands. A failure to plan strategically for a sound infrastructure in the light of this level of growth is appalling.

“The fault lies squarely with the Tories, who have failed to look at the bigger long-term needs of Rugby’s communities. Today we are discussing school places, but the same principle applies equally to every single public service in the town, be it health provision, dentistry, transport or town centre growth.

“Labour councillors have spoken about the need for a secondary school in the north of Rugby for years, and received mixed, confused messages and promises about what could be done. Now, we hear our arguments for a school presented back to us by the Conservatives as if they have just thought of them. Enough is enough. Rugby deserves better than this.”

Leader of the borough’s Labour group, Cllr Maggie O’Rourke, said: “Like so many parents in the Borough, my Labour colleagues and I are astonished at the local Conservatives’ lack of capacity to plan for there to be suitable school places.”