Charter School East - consultations

[@Woodwarde]

Posting this in case the two consultation dates are of interest - the first is tomorrow.

Charter School East

REMINDER - PLANNING CONSULATION EVENT THIS WEEK

6th October, United Reform Church East Dulwich Grove, 6pm-9pm

Dear Stakeholder

The DfE approved The Charter School Educational Trust?s proposal to open a new secondary school, The Charter School East Dulwich, in September 2016. We have been working closely with Southwark Council, the Education Funding Agency and architects on initial plans for the school which is proposed to be sited on the current Dulwich Community Hospital site.

We intend to submit a planning application in November 2015 for the first phase of the development, but we are keen to hear local residents' and others? views on the options that have been developed in advance of the application being submitted.

We have arranged for two consultation events to take place on 6th and 17th October at the United Reform Church on East Dulwich Grove, SE22 7RH. The attached leaflet (http://www.chartereastdulwich.org.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=15&type=pdf), also available on our website, provides further background information and details regarding the events. You can also provide comments through our website at www.chartereastdulwich.org.uk.

We recognise that there are a number of local groups, organisations and individuals in the area that take a keen interest in local developments and we are particularly keen to hear your views. We would be delighted if you, or a representative, could attend one of the events, but should that not be possible and you would like further information on the proposed scheme, please reply to this email or alternatively contact us on [email protected] in order that we can make alternative arrangements.

Yours faithfully,

Elizabeth Brown

Chair, The Charter School Educational Trust

www.chartereastdulwich.org.uk @chartereast

[BrandNewGuy]

Interesting evening looking over the temporary and long-term plans. There's not much point going into detail here, as they'll be putting up pdfs of the presentation on the website tomorrow:

http://www.chartereastdulwich.org.uk

Nice to see that they're intending to keep the 'chateau' and entrance drive intact, but I still have concerns about the impact on local congestion and parking, given that there will be minimal provision for parking. Which is fine for the kids, as they'll all be local and will be encouraged to walk or cycle, but I'll be interested to know what they'll do to minimise the staff's use of private cars.

[macutd]

Just returned from consultation. I am alarmed that there will be next to no parking available on site. They are hoping to discourage people driving to school by putting no parking on site.

Get with the real world, this will mean more people trying to park in the already over full surrounding streets.Causing conflicts, double parking, illegal parking at best and accidents with cars and pedestrians at worst.

[Countrlass22]

That's not good,not thinking practically for sure

[BrandNewGuy]

They could take the 'green' initiative and insist on staff using public transport. But I suspect they won't... As I mentioned to someone from the Council, if this isn't addressed satisfactorily, I would seriously consider a local CPZ (which I opposed before). The ball is in the school's court.

[Sunglasses]

I would far rather have a big school with more pupils, than a small school with a big car park.

I thought overall the plans were great. If there were any space to spare (which there isn't), I would prefer more sports facilities for the kids rather than car parks etc.

[sillywoman]

Ugh, not the CPZ thing again? :( However it does seem short sighted in the extreme to plan a health centre and a secondary school with only 10 or so parking places for the whole site. Realistically teachers will drive, visitors to the site will drive, admin staff, cleaners, ill people, doctors, nurses, physio's and on and on. If there's no parking then they will park in our already crowded local streets forcing a CPZ - something the majority of local residents were clear they didn't want.

I am really positive about these proposals on the whole and it will be a delight to see the site finally serving it's intended purpose, but the parking issue MUST be addressed for the proposals to be palatable to local residents.To ignore it will be to create a whole heap of misery for us.

[BrandNewGuy]

Agreed, but the school needs to be firm about its green transport policy. Why not fly the flag and aim for a 'zero impact' on the local area?

[sillywoman]

Because idealism must be balanced with realism.

[Sunglasses]

EDG and the immediate area already has JAGS, JAPS, Alleyns, Charter 1, Bessemer Grange, Goose Green Primary and I have probably missed some out. So there is already tonnes of traffic at school time.

BUT... please do not allocate useful school space for a few paltry car parking spaces! As many on this forum know, people are crying out for more decent state secondary provision.

The area has decent buses and two train stations, and most kids will be in walking distance

[BrandNewGuy]

I don't want more parking spaces! What I don't want is a school crowing about its green credentials when dozens of staff drive to work and park in nearby streets. Of course the kids can walk or cycle - none of them will be more than half a mile away.

Every time someone mentions teaching staff not driving, we get the 'carrying home piles of books' scenario. This is 2015. When my father used to 'bring work home', he had a huge bulging briefcase. When I take work home, I carry a slim laptop. It can't be beyond the wit of the system to come up with a solution that works in every other area of work and society.

[James Barber]

Hi silly woman,

NHS have been proposing 100 car parking spaces for the new super health centre. Presume for staff and patients. This does seem an awfully large amount of car parking.

The Charter school is planning for much less parking. I intend to test this idea in two ways. First their current school is about to have a CPZ implemented around it. residents there think the school staff are a major source of their parking stress so when staff can't park on local streets we'll soon see if the school has a problem. The school has a travel plan which will include surveys of how staff and pupils get to school. This will be needed as proof for the temporary site and permanent site to prove their point about so little parking.

I hope they can demonstrate they don't need much car parking. As Sunglasses pointed out earlier - better more space for kids than cars.

Both the NHS and Charter are planning to procure a joint traffic report which will include parking surveys, traffic flows, estimates of impact of the development.

But worth remembering this used to be a very busy full hospital with hundreds of consultation a day, in patients, 24/7 it even had A&E. So the site has had lots of traffic in the past coming and going.

[James Barber]

Just received attached letter - so exciting that the feedback from residents we turned into a secondary school campaign has reached this stage.

[HannahSE23]

Sunglasses I couldn't agree more! I too would far rather the school was bigger and had more space. There's no reason why staff and pupils can't use public transport anyway.

[Tessmo]

Not sure about the joint traffic report, James Barber. But Charter School East Dulwich is certainly commissioning one, and I've heard they're going to put up the outline brief on the school website. Very important that the school talks to local residents about how it will discourage teachers from driving in. As everyone has said here, the pupils will all be walking.

[Sunglasses]

Well done James.

I just hope as many EDFers as possible will be lucky enough to be in the catchment area.

[James Barber]

Hi Tessmo,

The Charter chair of governors at last Dulwich Community Council said joint traffic study with NHS and Monday night when I met new head, deputy chair governors, Southwark officers and project manager said joint study.

If different studies by each party then more overall spend and risk that gaps between two different studies.

They said 90-95% of current Charter pupils walking or public transport. Risk at new school of 5-10% of pupils being driven/collected which would September 2016 equate to 6-12 cars am and pm expanding to ultimately possible 120 vehicles when school finished. So initially no problem. Bigger risk I suspect is staff driving to/from school.

Has to be said it appears the nearest private schools have much higher proportion of pupils being driven to/from schools. So any work to reduce the Charter East Dulwich pupils being driven needs to be applied in the private school direction as well.

hi Sunglasses,

I can't pretend I'm not chuffed. But huge number of people have worked very hard to get us here and it has been a bumpy if fascinating and stressful ride. Can't wait until late 2020 when new school finally finished (delay due to NHS) and new super health centre in place.

[BrandNewGuy]

James Barber Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> They said 90-95% of current Charter pupils walking

> or public transport. Risk at new school of 5-10%

> of pupils being driven/collected which would

> September 2016 equate to 6-12 cars am and pm

> expanding to ultimately possible 120 vehicles when

> school finished. So initially no problem. Bigger

> risk I suspect is staff driving to/from school.

> Has to be said it appears the nearest private

> schools have much higher proportion of pupils

> being driven to/from schools. So any work to

> reduce the Charter East Dulwich pupils being

> driven needs to be applied in the private school

> direction as well.

Well, the private schools' intake is entirely different from what will be the Charter School's as they take from far and wide. Apart from pupils with disability issues, there's no excuse for any Charter pupil not walking, cycling or hopping on a bus given that no pupil is likely to live more than half a mile away.

As you suggest, it's the staff who will be the issue when it comes to car use and particularly parking.

Incidentally, pdfs of the full information panels from the consultation are now available here:

http://www.chartereastdulwich.org.uk/_site/data/files/users/2/68364016F0E646B3810036D83AC73AC4.pdf

[mikeb]

I think the private schools have a far bigger catchment area - suspect more people get the bus from Putney than walk in from Dulwich

[confusedbyitall]

According to that letter the final handover of land wont be until early 2019...that's ridiculous! The kids start in 2016 so they wont have proper facilities until GCSE's.

Not good enough - really don't understand why the NHS are being so pedantic over this???

[redjam]

Yes, just getting my head round this letter. Sounds like they won't be able to even start building the permanent school till 2019, is that right? At the Charter ED open day recently they stated they expected to be in the permanent buildings by 2018-9, but it sounds like it'll be at least another two years on from that, if not more. How on earth are they going to fit up to four years'-worth of pupils into a handful of portacabins squished into one corner of the site?

Don't want to rain on your parade, James, and yes, well done for getting the ball rolling in the first place, but for those of us with Year 6 children this is actually pretty bad news.

[James Barber]

Hi confusedbyitall,

I share your frustration. BUT the initial NE corner site handed over today has sufficient space for temporary classrooms and two permanent blocks that will provide 70% of all final classrooms. So the final land handover although painful shouldn't get in he way of children starting next September having a great school. And the sports hall should open by end of their first year.

Hi redjam,

No. They can start building the permanent classrooms from summer next year when we expect planning permission for the permanent blocks. 70% of the total classroom space required for years 7-13 and all the sports hall space should be in place by September 2017.

And of course we will strive to move the NHS along.

Much of the outdoor space will come after the NHS move out and is mostly about demolishing blocks and building all surface sports facilities - so that can happen very quickly. The final 30% of school classrooms, offices etc. should come from converting and adding to the central Chateau building which will take until 2020/21 but the school wont need that final 30% until after then.

I've asked if that central Chateau work on the above ground floors could be done in parallel to the NHS operating there. It would migrate some of the running costs and risk away from the NHS and in return speed up the works and reduce overall timescales. A win win situation potentially.

Clearly this isn't ideal. It has taken 23 years for the NHS to reach this stage. John Major was PM when they first started working on replacing Dulwich Hospital!

[redjam]

That's a v helpful post, James, thank you. And thank you for continuing to pressure the NHS.

[Galileo]

James, you wrote "Risk at new school of 5-10% of pupils being driven/collected which would September 2016 equate to 6-12 cars am and pm expanding to ultimately possible 120 vehicles when school finished. So initially no problem. Bigger risk I suspect is staff driving to/from school."

Initially no problem? Even 6 - 12 cars stopping for 1 minute each between say 8.15am and 8.45am (I've assumed those times) could cause havoc on Melbourne Grove North, which is already a very congested road. Today there has been no end of congestion on the road leading to lots of beeping that started at 8am...and that's just because of the increase in traffic because it's raining!!!

[savage]

James,

Just to clarify, the NHS will not be handing over the remainder of the land until 2019 (main hospital), is that correct?

Will there be a guarantee/ contract in place to ensure that this is the latest it will happen? 2019 is bad enough, but I'm also concerned how achievable that date is bearing in mind how incredibly slowly the NHS move!

Kate