To receive any petitions submitted by members of the public or Councillors.
Minutes:
RESOLVED: To note that the following petitions had been received:
(1) Petition – South Parade, Mollison Way, Back Lane
Raj Jessa, a representative of residents and businesses of South Parade, presented a petition signed by 117 people with the following terms of reference:
“The access road parallel to and to the rear of South Parade is in a foul and filthy state and requires to be cleaned up and resurfaced. It is a blight on the area and all resident and business owners who use it. The road is used as a fly tipping site. There is human rubbish such as food, broken bottles, household furniture and abandoned vehicles strewn all over the road. The state is a health hazard to children who play and live in the area. It is environmentally massive hazard and nuisance to residents and business owners. The road needs to be brought into the present century”.
RESOLVED: That the petition be received and referred to the relevant Corporate Director for consideration.
(2) Petition – One Site Solution for Pinner Wood School
Jenny McCann, a representative of the parents of Pinner Wood School presented a petition signed by 2,050 people with the following terms of reference:
“On behalf of the parents of Pinner Wood School, I'm presenting our petition which has received over 2000 signatures for a one site solution in Pinner for Pinner Wood and for our existing site to be fixed. The closure of Pinner Wood School on 23 March meant that 600 Pinner children were without an education until after Easter. For the summer term, our children, some just 4 years old, are being bussed to the other side of Harrow where our outstanding school is split between two other school sites. None of these sites are local to us.
We accept this is the best short term solution that you have been able to secure for us and thank you for that and for the coaches. However, we as parents want a local one site solution from September. We are at an outstanding school that sits in the middle of a vibrant, thriving community. More than that, we are an exceptional environment for children to flourish. A place where children of all races, nationalities and beliefs work side by side in an atmosphere of respect, kindness, understanding and tolerance.
The impact that this closure will have on our children, our staff and our lives is immense. Not only from an educational perspective, this closure will impact our community that we all live in, affect our livelihoods and our wellbeing. The impact on families, working parents, local businesses, local infrastructure and Pinner as a whole is incalculable. So, we the parents of Pinner Wood want two things: from September we want a one site local solution for our outstanding school; the second thing we want is for Harrow Council to commit to fixing our existing site as quickly as possible, so our exceptional school can continue to serve the local community. There is no cost benefit analysis in this equation.
Securing the existence of our exceptional school is priceless. Building a new school on a new site will not serve any children that currently attend Pinner Wood School or the community and any other solutions, including concurrently looking at Green Field sites, Portakabin pop-up schools, surveying other Green sites, looking at vacant local schools and Harrow Arts Centre. So I commend you for looking into those things but we want you to concurrently explore all of the sites and get a solution quickly and we want you to commit to fix our existing site. We urge you to get a local one site solution from September and to fix our site as quickly as possible, so our outstanding school can continue to be a beacon of education, tolerance, respect and kindness in our vibrant, local community.”
RESOLVED: That the petition be received and submitted to the relevant Corporate Director for consideration.