Absolute last chance to protest at the Council's sell off of school land to luxury developers

12.34.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 12th May 2008

Some of the play space in question

On 22nd May, the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea's plans to sell off playing space in Holland Park School to luxury property developers go before the Major Planning committee. Any letters received by the council before this date will be considered by the committee so there is still time to write in - but only just. The plans will see the money raised from the luxury development being used to demolish the entire school and rebuild it on a smaller site.

The Liberal Democrats have consistently opposed these plans. To add your voice to the opposition, you should send a letter to the address at the bottom of this page.

The Liberal Democrats oppose the Council's intention to place all affordable housing for the new development off site, in direct contravention of its own recommendations as set out in the Interim Core Strategy. The London Plan and Local Development Framework link off-site affordable housing to the same ward or neighbouring wards and exclude wards where there is currently a high percentage of affordable housing. This attempt by the Borough to circumnavigate these guidelines will result in a lack of faith in the Council's ability to judge future planning applications, where developers may wish to follow the Council's own lead and ignore the rule.

The Liberal Democrats believe the Council's plan will cause an unacceptable loss of valuable open space, which is currently under-provided for in the Royal borough. Critically, it will also involve the loss of recreational playing field land. Less play space is now being sold than was intended in the previous plan which was called in by the Secretary of State and then withdrawn. Yet the fact that less play space is now being sold seems to be linked directly to the decision to remove the affordable housing off site. The Liberal Democrats argue that this makes the loss of space particularly unsavoury; it is essentially being taken away from the community and the school children in order for it to be used for a development that will be completely beyond the means of key workers including anyone who might be employed by this - or any - state school.

Holland Park School

The Council should also listen to the Campden Hill Residents Association which has serious concerns about the inappropriate design of the school building for the Conservation Area.

The CHRA point out that the sale of school land is unnecessary now that the Council is able to participate in the Government's Building Schools for the Future programme. The Council should amend its plans to remove the need to sell off valuable school land. CHRA estimate that the cost of the scheme has risen to £72.6 million and will rise further.

But perhaps the most pressing reason to cancel this proposed rebuild is that, for all its controversy, a rebuild cannot actually solve the education provision problem in this Borough. Local campaigner Robin Tuck explains:

"The Liberal Democrat position has long been that a new school should be built in the North of the Borough. The proposed HPS rebuild and the building of the Chelsea Academy will not together provide sufficient Secondary School places in RBKC. In particular, there are not enough non-denominational secondary school places available to children living in North Kensington."

The Lib Dem position is that this entire project should be scrapped; the existing school should be refurbished, and a new school should be built in the North of the Borough. If you agree, please send your letters, which should arrive by May 21st at the absolute latest, to: Mr Derek Taylor, Executive Director, Planning Department, Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, Town Hall, Hornton Street, London, W8 7NX

The letter should be openly copied to: Hilary Bowman, Case Officer, Head of West London Plans & Casework, Government Office for London, Riverwalk House, 157-161 Millbank, London.SW1P 4RR

You should use the following reference numbers to head up your letter: PP/08/00591, CC/08/00592 and PP/08/00594