Pickles gives Hayes school tick of approval

May 2 2013 By Carl Gavaghan

THE government has given the go ahead for a much-opposed new primary school in Hayes.

The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, has said the council’s proposal for Lake Farm School in Lake Farm Country park, off Botwell Lane is in line with national policy and should be determined locally.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, announced last month that he would not intervene in the borough’s plans to build a school on the three hectares of green belt land.

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.

The council examined 26 possible alternatives before concluding that the Lake Farm site was the only viable option.

Leader of the Council, Councillor Ray Puddifoot, said:

“It is the policy of this administration that every child in Hillingdon will have a place at a local school when they reach primary school age. I am pleased that both the Secretary of State and the Mayor of London agree with our policy and that this is the only suitable site in the area.

“Any other decision or cause for delay would have been a disgraceful betrayal of the children of that area of Hayes.”

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