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Permalink Reply by Alan Sitkin on April 6, 2012 at 1:16

Agree that there are: "concerns" - we have an overriding one as well.

To wit, the need for the future rebuild to feature social amenities. Our predecessors at Enfield Council may have thought that it was OK to let developers have their way and squish people in like sardines but that's not our value system. We want sustainable communities, enjoying access to a healthy environment, if possible green spaces and leisure facilities, NHS provisions, retail, it's a point we keep making to NHHT. And will continue to make at all stages - we have succeeded in getting the idea of "balanced development" enshrined in Enfield's top planning documents, it should have been there a long time ago...

Re: school places, I agree that's a big concern. Again, this problem has been foreseeable for about a decade but nothing was done to address it before we arrived 2 years ago. The Coalition is spreading the ideological propaganda that free schools are the panacea but it's a smokescreen, amongst other reasons because the numbers would be minimal (not to mention the lack of care for the whole of the community). Thus for us the priority is to get the normal system in a position to accommodate our rising population of primary school aged kids. Garfield is building an extra form but Bowes only has room for one extra classroom, not a whole form. Which isn't enough and raises the question of where we are going to put everyone else. Because families only living a few streets away from Bowes are already finding it almost impossible to get in, the status quo is no longer acceptable. I've been looking at something called "eco-classrooms" but there is no silver bullet. Answers on a postcard please!

Alan

http://boweslabour.blogspot.com/

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