8:46am Tuesday 9th February 2010
By Rob Merrick
THREE North-East local authorities could be stripped of powers to control the opening of new schools under radical Tory plans to run an “education revolution” from Whitehall.
A leaked document has revealed that local education authorities would be barred from blocking proposals for “free schools”, to be set up by parents, charities and businesses.
Instead, building schemes would be considered in a similar way to major infrastructure projects – such as power stations and wind farms – and taken out of local hands.
The Conservative policy would also allow anyone to turn an existing building, even a disused office block or a community hall, into a school, without the need for planning permission.
David Cameron’s party has already nominated Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Sunderland areas with poor GCSE results to be first in line for the shake-up.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats condemned the plan as unworkable, arguing it exposed the hollowness of the Tory commitment to “localism”.
But the Conservatives insisted it was putting power in the hands of local people, in the same way as the popular council house sell-offs of the Eighties. A spokesman said: “We are putting town hall bureaucrats on notice that they cannot stop parents, or other groups, setting up their own schools.
“Labour town halls may not like this proposal, but if local authorities are confident their schools are good then they should not fear this, because there will be no demand for new ones locally. This is actually localism in action.”
The Tories want to set up 3,000 “free” schools – funded by the taxpayer, but with a private school ethos – with about 200 pupils, rather than the 1,000 in the average secondary school.
The aim is to improve standards at neighbouring schools, following the alleged success of the policy in Sweden, granting greater freedom over the curriculum.
Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Sunderland would be first in line because a pupil premium – increasing education spending in poorer areas – would create a powerful incentive for voluntary groups and businesses to choose them.
But the Government has poured scorn on the idea, warning of enormous cost, admissions chaos, greater social segregation and half-empty nearby schools.
School Minister Vernon Coaker said: “This reveals that the Tories would cut out local communities and centralise all decisions with one minister in Whitehall.”
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