Medway Academies' New Builds

I haven't commented on this matter before, as unlike the negative writings elsewhere I had quiet confidence that all would be well, and simply awaited actual hard news before commenting.

The negativity elsewhere has stemmed from the planned scrapping of one part of the schools building schemes from the preceding Labour government because, frankly, it wasn't achieving much and the majority of the funding was vanishing into middlemen and other side aspects of the complex processes that the old scheme had incorporated as an integral part. It clearly wasn't working anywhere near well and probably never could.

Various anti-Conservatives tried to make out that this move was a wholesale scrapping of constructing new school buildings altogether. I am still trying to work out whether they were being dishonest (as tends to be the case more often than not) or just too thick to understand the subject. I leave it to others to decide which is the case...

Other parts of the programme have remained intact, and the so-called Building Schools for the Future initiative will no doubt be replaced by something vastly more effective in due course.

Meanwhile, back in Medway, today's news is that the planned new builds for our three academies (Strood, Bishop of Rochester and Brompton) has been confirmed as a go, as local MP Mark Reckless reports. As he says, instead of unfunded aspirations as they were before (i.e. under Labour) these are now firm commitments with funding identified and formally allocated. My own local MP, Tracey Crouch, has also been active on this subject, and reports on the successful result regarding the Bishop of Rochester Academy.

For the local media, here is the Messenger's article on this.

This is brilliant news! I never doubted the outcome, but am still overjoyed to have this news in confirmation that my confidence was not misplaced (is it ever?) and that this is a solid commitment by the Coalition Government.