School land raises £41m for Hertfordshire County Council since 2005 (From Watford Observer)

School land raises £41m for Hertfordshire County Council since 2005

1:05pm Thursday 4th February 2010 in

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School land worth £41 million has been sold off in south-west Hertfordshire in the last five years, new figures reveal.

This includes £10.4 million for the former Langleybury School site in Three Rivers, and £3.5 million for the former Albanwood Junior School site in Watford.

The details of the land sales in Watford, Three Rivers, Hertsmere and Dacorum were published by the Liberal Democrats as part of their campaign for more primary and secondary school places in this part of the county.

Three primary schools in Watford are set to expand by 30 reception form places this September to cope with demand.

Meanwhile, a pressure group has been set up in Three Rivers to fight for the building of a new secondary school within the next five years.

Sal Brinton, the prospective Liberal Democrat MP for Watford, said: “Families in Watford and south-west Hertfordshire who are struggling to find a primary or secondary school place for their children have been let down by Hertfordshire County Council’s inability to plan properly for school places.

“The council has received £41 million from selling off school sites over the last six years, but until now have refused to use the money to provide proper classrooms for our children.

“It is vital that the county council gets its act together. They’ve admitted there is a real shortage of school places. Now they should ensure that our children get the schools they need.”

However, Hertfordshire County Council representative Pam Meade said a large amount of the money received from the sales of school sites would have been put back into education.

She said: “Generally speaking capital receipts are pooled but there are some circumstances where the capital receipts are ringfenced for individual projects - but education makes up a significant proportion of the capital programme.

“Hertfordshire County Council works hard to provide primary school places where they are needed. In common with other areas of the county, Watford has seen a rapidly changing pattern of demand for school places in recent years.”

In total, land sold by the county council in Watford, Dacorum, Three Rivers and Hertsmere topped £56 million since 2005.

This includes £250,000 for the former police station in St Albans Road, Watford; an initial payment of £2.75 million for the former Watford fire station site in Rickmansworth Road, Watford; and £1.167 million for the former Carlsberg depot in Hunton Bridge.