Hayes campaigners take Green Belt fight to Boris

By Jack White 2:00pm Tuesday 12th March 2013 in Hillingdon Times Local News

PEOPLE in Hayes are taking their fight to stop the council building a school on a Green Belt country park to City Hall today.

Hillingdon Council last week forced through a planning application to build a primary school for 630 pupils on Lake Farm Country Park in Botwell Common Road. The decision was met with jeers from the public gallery.

Mayor Boris Johnson may call in the plan for further scrutiny as it is on Green Belt land.

Save Lake Farm (Keep Botwell Common) campaigners hope Mr Johnson will declare the Lake Farm plans invalid under rules on Green Belt development.

John McDonnell, the Hayes MP, said: “We are calling on the mayor to live up to his promises to protect the Green Belt in London. He has already expressed his concerns about councils using the excuse of a shortage of school places to build on the Green Belt and Hillingdon is exactly this type of case.”

The campaign has the support of Len Duvall, Labour leader in the London Assembly, as well as Greater London Authority members Nicki Gavron and Onkar Sahota.

Alternatives to the new school have been proposed. Rosedale Primary School has offered to expand to meet growing demand for school places, while Nanaksar Primary School, which is due to open in September, has also said it is willing to expand to accommodate extra pupils.