A VALUABLE green space in Dollis Hill could be saved from development following objection from the community.
A group of parents had been considering the William Gladstone open space near Gladstone Park as a site for a new free school, but after a heated community meeting and petitions being signed against it, the school may withdraw its plans.
No formal plans had been submitted to Brent Council as the land is Metropolitan Open Land and there would have been a number of challenges for the Education Funding Agency, which would have carried out the process on behalf of the Gladstone Free School.
The school was due to open in September this year and after a meeting on Monday January 27 in Cricklewood a spokesperson for the School’s Board of Governors and Trustees said: “The school had intended to use the meeting to outline how Gladstone School will add more choice for families looking for an outstanding secondary school in the area. In our search for a site we hoped to share information about options, including what we believe are very interesting proposals to revitalise a small part of Brent’s open spaces that we feel deserves to be better used by the community. In the event voices objecting in principle to any form of development of that land forced the meeting to close before we got the chance to explain them. We regret that we were prevented from holding an orderly public meeting. We will take on board the views expressed, but it looks as though we may have to withdraw our ideas before they see the light of day.”
It is typical for free schools to open in temporary premises before a permanent building is found or built and due to time pressure it would have been extremely unlikely the school would have opened on the site this year.
Liberal Democrat Dollis Hill councillor Alison Hopkins said: “This is fantastic news and I am glad the site won’t be built on as it is a valuable asset for the community. I’m very pleased they have listened to the community and are planning to look for other sites.”
