Surbiton Hospital site in Ewell Road is being considered as a possible option to house one of two badly needed new primary schools in the borough, Kingston Council’s lead member for education Councillor Patricia Bamford has confirmed.
Local campaigners have long maintained the hospital is an obvious choice for building a new school, with Kingston and Surbiton MP Edward Davey also floating the idea last December.
But Kingston Council has remained coy about the possibility until now, with Coun Bamford making the announcement at the council’s executive meeting on April 21.
She said the hospital was one of a number of sites officers were looking at for the new schools, which need to be ready by September 2012 to cope with the continuing surge in reception place applications the borough has received in the past two years.
Despite Surbiton parents submitting a 297-signature petition to the council on March 31, demanding more capacity be added in the local area, Coun Bamford denied the decision to consider the hospital site was “solely related” to parental pressure.
Parent and campaigner Paul Sloan welcomed the possibility of a new primary school on the site, and said speed was of the essence.
He said: “It’s vital plans are progressed quickly. We need to focus on the next four years, when the Surbiton schools are likely to run out of space to accommodate bulge classes, and any new school building has yet to be completed.
“Parents of existing toddlers face the very real possibility of being forced to travel well outside Surbiton to find a school place.
“Kingston NHS plans to build a new £15m polyclinic on half of the hospital site, with Kingston Council holding discussions about creating a community hub using the remaining space.
Mr Sloan said: “It’s important that any redevelopment of the hospital site delivers a net gain to Surbiton.
“There’s no gain merely centralising existing facilities, especially if the existing sites get redeveloped as yet more housing.
"This may generate profits for their owners, but will surely heap further pressure on local services, particularly primary schools which are at breaking point.”
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