Call To Lobby Council

This was the overwhelming response at Wednesday's public meeting at Angmering School, called by the parish council to find out villagers' views on providing primary school places for children from the new 600-homes Bramley Green development.

The views will be raised by the parish council when West Sussex County Council's schools organisation committee meets on May 20.

Parish councillor Peter French chaired the public meeting, joined by chairman Terence Kay and fellow councillors John King and Richard Sampey.

Mr Sampey began the meeting with a brief synopsis of the latest developments.

He said the parish council was proud of St Margaret's School and would dearly love to see more money spent on the school, but not at the expense of everything else.

Arun District Council had estimated 210 new children coming to live in Angmering 210 was the trigger point at which a new school had to be built.

Angmering Parish Council had put it to West Sussex County Council that if Arun's calculations were right, would they build a new school?

The question was apparently greeted with silence.

Mr Sampey said all interested parties must be consulted and no-one had yet justified spending the money on St Margaret's at the expense of a school for Bramley Green.

Rob Lovejoy, a member of the consortium which sold the land to the Bramley Green developers, made a blistering attack on the county council.

He explained that Arun, the county council and the developers had signed an agreement which stated three acres had to be given over for a new primary school.

"There are 600 houses and there is a 1,000 charge per house we had to pay to provide primary education, now I make that 600,000."

Mr Lovejoy said the county council had the land and most of the money for the proposed new school, but was not abiding by its word. He added: "Every effort should be made to ensure that the school is built in Bramley Green."

More than 100 people attended the meeting and many were of the same opinion: increasing St Margaret's School's capacity was only a short-term solution to providing more primary places in the village.

But St Margaret's school governor Chris Snell said the school was already in the situation where it needed to expand.

"We need permanent buildings, parents want their children to go to a Church of England school. St Margaret's needs to expand now."

There were concerns about the traffic and how people would be able to walk safely from Bramley Green to St Margaret's, as no safe route had been mapped out.

Peter French summed up the evening's meeting and then Richard Sampey explained several ways the public could make their feelings known to West Sussex County Council.

He suggested the forming of a pressure group which would then be allowed to nominate a spokesman to put forward their views at the schools organisation committee.

He also suggested writing a letter to the committee's secretary Paul Whiffing, as well as lobbying the West Sussex county councillor for Angmering, Oliver Wingrove. Mr Wingrove is himself opposed to the expansion of St Margaret's School.

Finally, said Mr French, individuals could go to the meeting and speak.

Find out about parents' plight getting their children to school in the Gazette, May 9.