A WAR of wards ended with Waltham Forest Council voting to lobby the Government to reinstate funding for schools.
It was a night of high drama at a special council meeting held tonight to discuss the cancellation of a schools improvement programme.
The coalition Government putting a stop to the Building Schools for the Future initiative means the borough will miss out on funding to the tune of £263 million, according to Chris Robbins, leader of the council.
The figure is on top of £17 million the council has already spent on planning work, which will effectively be lost if projects do not progress.
He called the meeting and proposed a four-point motion to try and put pressure on the Government to find the cash to get 17 rebuilding projects back underway in the borough.
In a packed council chamber the first speaker was Madeline Rutherfoord, a Year 10 pupil from Willowfield School, one of those hit by the cuts and one which Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy condemned as "not fit for purpose" on Monday.
Miss Rutherford listed a catalogue of problems at the school; rain leaking into buildings in parts of the school, a playground too small for 600 youngsters and "not enough sockets for our computers".
She said: "It's already a very good school, we don't need a new school, just a new building."
Urging councillors to support the motion, Miss Rutherford spoke of the awaited improvements; from more green space, to lockers, music and drama studios and room to expand.
She said it would be "a building the students could be proud of".
A host of members spoke for all the parties.
Mr Robbins and Clyde Loakes took the limelight for the Labour group, both giving impassioned speeches.
Mr Robbins, former cabinet member for children and young people, spoke of the council's "wonderful achievements" in the borough on education, including projects already completed under BSF and those that are near to starting building work.
He said 12,000 youngsters would be directly affected by the axe falling on the BSF programme and it was "pathetic" for Conservative councillors to claim the borough was missing out on so much money because the council's leadership should have got more of the borough's projects to financial close - the cut off stage where funding cannot be withdrawn.
Mr Robbins said the Conservative councillors should be "screaming" at Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, to support the borough.
Mr Loakes, Labour ward member for Leytonstone, said there were no complaints in the past seven years, from the Lib Dems and Conservatives at the council, that the project was moving too slowly.
He said: "Not once did you challenge the programme, a clear indictment of your laziness.
"Don't start lecturing us now when you had the ability to change it and you were not interested."
Mr Loakes said not only was the BSF important to schools and pupils but also to tradesmen and firms relying on the work.
Marion Fitzgerald, Conservative councillor for Hatch Lane, put forward an amednment which effectively tried to scrap the proposed resolution.
She said the BSF programme was overly bureaucratic and "characterised by overspends and tragic delays".
Conservative group leader Matt Davis echoed the comments and said the schemes have not been scrapped, it was the initiative which the Government has no faith in and money would be found for the borough by the end of the year after a review.
He also attacked the management of the projects and said Haringey had completed its projects when both boroughs started at the same time.
Bob Sullivan, Lib Dem leader, said his councillors would be supporting the motion but he agreed certain projects could have been managed better and there should have been a greater urgency to reach financial close.
When it came to the crunch, and after much political wrangling, there was a unanimous vote in favour of the motion.
The motion states the council will:
1/ Organise a lobby of parliament and invite the education community, parents, young people and all councillors to take part requesting that the Education Secretary, Michael Gove MP, reinstates capital funding for schools in Waltham Forest.
2/ Call upon all councillors to sign a petition calling on the Education Secretary, Michael Gove MP to reinstate the capital programme to enable Waltham Forest to progress with its existing plans.
3/ Support the campaign by the Head Teachers Forum calling for the reinstatement of BSF capital funding for our schools.
4/ Invite our three MPs to make appropriate representation to the Government so as to ensure our schools building programme continues.
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