Parents blast Cardownie for school fight silence

Published on Thursday 1 October 2009 10:00

PARENTS fighting school closure plans have hit out at their ward councillor, Steve Cardownie, for being uninterested in "one of the biggest local issues" in recent years.

Campaigners fighting to save Royston school claim that Cllr Cardownie – who is also deputy council leader – has made no effort to meet with them or listen to their views since the plans were announced in June.

They say he has snubbed their invitation to community meetings on the issue, as well as not replying to phone calls and e-mails.

Cllr Cardownie also failed to turn up to a council-organised public consultation meeting into the closure of Royston last week, as well as a similar meeting for parents at Trinity Primary – the proposed receiving school for the closure-threatened Fort Primary, which is also in his ward.

Grant Cunningham, chair of Royston's parent council, said he has been repeatedly trying to meet with Cllr Cardownie since June, but has had no response.

Mr Cunningham said: "There was a period when I was phoning his office at least one a week and e-mailing him and I kept getting apologies from his secretary that he hadn't got back to me yet.

"There have been a lot of community meetings and he's never been to any of them. It's really disappointing, particularly given his position as deputy leader.

"I don't expect him to say he is 100 per cent on our side, but it would be nice to get our point over to him and have him listen.

"People here know who has been supporting us and who hasn't so I can't see how people are going to vote again for a local councillor who isn't interested in one of the biggest local issues in a long time."

He added: "I was particularly frustrated during the summer holidays to read about him in the paper talking about Festival street performers, bins and the Lady Boys of Bangkok but made no mention of the school and I find that disgusting."

But Cllr Cardownie insists his lack of contact with parents is not because he is uninterested but rather because he wants to gather all the facts from the consultation process before he takes a more informed view on all the closures.

He said: "I want to get all the information first so I can look at it all at one time. One of the biggest mistakes a politician can make is to state an opinion before they have all the facts.

"I played a pivotal role in keeping Fort open before because I felt that was the right thing to do. I take a great interest in education."