Frustrated parents have said the way Hampshire County Council has dealt with their concerns regarding the potential closure of a Basingstoke secondary school is “appalling”.
Parents who attended the third and final public consultation session about the proposed amalgamation of Fort Hill Community School and Cranbourne Business and Enterprise College (CBEC) at the Westside Community Centre on February 15, decided to hold their own meeting after council officers said it was just a “drop-in” session.
This meant for parents who could not attend the previous two meetings, there was no presentation on offer.
After several parents confronted officers with letters stating the session was meant to follow a presentation and Q&A format, the officers told the public it was only a dropin session and they would only see small groups at a time.
Matthew Clarke, of Elmwood Way, was unable to attend the first sessions and felt this was his last chance to get his view across.
He told The Gazette: “There was a huge sense of frustration among everyone there. It was as if the council just did not want to hear what people had to say.
“As everyone who attended the ‘meeting’ wanted answers people gave the council the chance to speak to us as a group, but they just scurried off into the next room and said they would only see people in small groups.
“I went to this meeting with quite an open mind hoping to get some answers, but once I saw that it was as if the council was just going through the motions I thought I needed to make everyone aware of how appalling they have been.”
Mother-of-two Ruth Cooper added: “The council said they were never going to address the public as a group.
“This is not what was on the letter the Fort Hill parents received, and there was supposed to be presentation but they never gave that, so if the Westside was the only meeting you could attend you would not have had a clue what they had proposed, or were talking about. It was a complete sham.”
The country council said the meeting took a different format so parents who did not feel comfortable speaking in a public forum could get their questions heard.
A spokesperson for HCC said: “Officers did have the opportunity to listen and speak with a high number of people on the evening, which resulted in the drop-in event continuing far beyond the anticipated end time, and not closing until the last person had left.
“We acknowledge that some people who had attended expecting a further public meeting were disappointed, but we would reiterate that no final decisions have been made about Fort Hill school’s future and strongly urge anyone that has not done so yet, to make their views known via the online consultation questionnaire.
“It has been made clear that we are open to considering other suggested options for the future of the school.”
Article originally published by Basingstoke Gazette
