Boris's approval is a 'disgraceful betrayal' says Labour MP

Apr 24 2013 by Jack Griffith, Uxbridge Gazette

HILLINGDON Council has taken a major step towards building its much-opposed primary school at Lake Farm Country Park, after the Mayor of London gave the project his backing.

Boris Johnson announced last week that he would not intervene in the borough’s plans to build a school on three hectares of green belt land, at the eastern end of Lake Farm Country park, off Botwell Lane, Hayes.

Mr Johnson has been persuaded that the necessary ‘very special circumstances’ – the urgent need to provide extra primary school places – outweighs the loss of green belt.

In his report, he states the search for alternative sites, 26 were considered in total, was ‘robust’.

The council approved the proposals during a stormy meeting in March, when councillors were heckled by a crowd of protestors.

The following week, Hayes and Harlington Labour MP John McDonnell took campaigners to City Hall to deliver letters to the mayor, urging him to use his powers and overturn the decision.

Mr Johnson’s approval has infuriated Mr McDonnell, who called it a ‘disgraceful betrayal of our local community.’

The progress of the development is now solely down to the Secretary of State, who also has to consider the application. His decision is imminent.

Councillor Ray Puddifoot, the leader of the council, said: “We are extremely pleased that the Mayor of London has recognised the importance of a good start in life for the children of Hayes and supported the building of a new school at Lake Farm.

“Opponents of the scheme have been given every opportunity to come up with an alternative site, but nothing feasible has materialised so we need to press ahead with the agreed proposal.”

The school, which the council wants open by 2015, will accommodate 630 children.

One final hurdle, an agreement with the developer of Stockley Park from 2000, under which cash was given for the maintaining of Lake Farm as a ‘public open space’, should be jumped soon, using planning law to appropriate the land.