Waltham Forest’s two Labour MPs have told the education secretary he’s no longer capable of making an impartial decision of the future of school building in the borough.
Stella Creasy, Walthamstow, and John Cryer, Leyton and Wanstead, are calling on the education secretary to remove himself from the decision-making process about the future of the borough’s schools after the High Court branded his original decision to cancel the building projects as “an abuse of power”.
The axing by Michael Gove of 58 school projects worth £1bn in six local authority areas was ruled unlawful because he failed to consult properly with councils. The education secretary must now reconsider the decision but it is unlikely that the £263m that was to be spent on 16 Waltham Forest schools will be written back into the budget.
The leader of Waltham Forest Council, Chris Robbins, said the court ruling was a victory for common sense and fair play: “We have said all along that we want to sit down and have an amicable discussion with the government about the difficulties our schools face. We are hopeful that this judgement will now open the door to a real and constructive conversation about improving schools for Waltham Forest’s young people.”
Ms Creasy and Mr Cryer say they don’t think Mr Gove is capable of making an impartial decision and should not review something on which he made the initial decision. They have written him a letter suggesting that, “for the confidence of all concerned, the final decision should be made by a party independent from the original process”.
In a joint statement the two MPs said: “Last July we invited Michael Gove to visit some of the 16 schools in Waltham Forest that were due to be refurbished under Building Schools for the Future, to see for himself how urgently these schools needed investment in order to address problems of asbestos, leaky roofs and lack of space – but he declined to take up our offer.”
