• About
    • Ethics policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Ownership, funding and corrections
    • Complaints procedure
    • Terms & Conditions
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Newsletter
Brighton and Hove News
16 July, 2025
  • News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Opinion
    • Community
  • Arts and Culture
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Food and Drink
  • Sport
    • Brighton and Hove Albion
    • Cricket
  • Newsletter
  • Public notices
  • Advertise
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Opinion
    • Community
  • Arts and Culture
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Food and Drink
  • Sport
    • Brighton and Hove Albion
    • Cricket
  • Newsletter
  • Public notices
  • Advertise
No Result
View All Result
Brighton and Hove News
No Result
View All Result
Home Brighton

Proposed Hove school brings need for leadership to head

by Frank le Duc
Tuesday 24 Jul, 2012 at 9:34AM
A A
0

The parents behind the proposed King’s School have helped crystallise a number of important issues.

They may inadvertently force decision-makers to settle matters that have festered, in at least one case, for more than a generation.

They want to open a free school and their application has been approved by Education Secretary Michael Gove.

And they want their school – a church secondary school – to be built on the King Alfred site on Hove seafront.

Michael Gove

Central Hove is short of a secondary school. It is not the only part of Brighton and Hove to need one. Whitehawk, Kemp Town and seafront Brighton are also poorly served.

But the burgeoning number of young families in Central Hove is placing existing primary and secondary schools under growing pressure.

The site preferred by Brighton and Hove City Council to serve the growing school age population living in Hove is at Toad’s Hole Valley, by the Brighton bypass.

This part of Hangleton already has two secondary schools near by – and nearer to the seafront – with Blatchington Mill and Hove Park cheek by jowl.

With the draft City Plan setting out hopes of building 700 homes at Toad’s Hole Valley and 400 on the King Alfred site, the need for supporting infrastructure becomes harder to ignore.

And one of the most important items of infrastructure, even if no new homes are built, is a new school.

Neither the King Alfred site nor Toad’s Hole Valley feels big enough when new homes are factored in. And at the King Alfred the council wants a replacement swimming pool and leisure centre too.

Consultation on the draft City Plan ended yesterday (Monday 23 July).

There are those who would ignore the King’s School and the people behind it and those who actively oppose them.

Some dislike the idea of a church school in an increasingly secular age where science and scepticism reign.

Others are unhappy with the idea of anyone other than the council setting up or running a school.

And concerns remain about free schools and accountability.

But obstructing its opening, particularly when there is no viable alternative, would be a betrayal of our children.

The King Alfred Leisure Centre

The council has indicated that it has no money to build a new school and that the government has given it little room for manoeuvre.

It may try to get round the rules by designating any new school at Toad’s Hole Valley an annex to an existing school. It may not be an ideal solution but it could be a pragmatic one.

Ministers, meanwhile, have been giving active encouragement to people proposing free schools. And some of these groups do have the capacity to raise funds.

The King’s School is supported by the Russell Education Trust and the Church of England. Neither has yet said what level of investment it is prepared to make in Hove.

If either or both organisations will spend, the council should seize the day.

New homes, school places and the future of the King Alfred all need joined up decision-making.

There is land on one side of the King Alfred Leisure Centre that has been underused for years and on the other side land that is disused and has been for years.

Planned properly, a school could occupy part of the site.

Other options exist although lead-in times are a factor that will need to be borne in mind.

One option is having a school by Hove railway station once again as land on either side of the railway line is redeveloped, including the Conway Street bus depot. It would be near many young families.

Another is to switch some of the housing allocation from the King Alfred to the Hove station development area to make more room for a seafront school.

Or a replacement leisure centre could be built nearer the station rather than on its current site.

The council should show leadership and produce a well co-ordinated development brief for the station area.

It ought to bring the various site owners and developers together – perhaps for a seminar – and encourage communication, including with each other and the public.

As for the King Alfred, several schemes since the late 1960s have tried to cram too much on to the site and build too high.

Local people’s views have been ignored. Time and again they have campaigned against inappropriate applications.

The King’s School is due to open its doors in just over a year. Whether or not it opens on the King Alfred site, much needs to be done in a short space of time.

 

ShareTweetShareSendSendShare

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Most read

Plans for £6.9m swimming pool go before council cabinet

How Brighton’s most useful shop keeps helping customers even though it’s closed

Sinkhole appears outside financially troubled Brighton school

Proposed Hove school brings need for leadership to head

Power cut affects thousands of homes and businesses in Brighton

Lifeboat picks up ill-equipped paddleboarders heading for windfarm at dusk

Water company brings in hosepipe ban after dry spring and heatwaves

Former Brighton student’s killer dies in Australian prison

Boy, 15, seriously injured in sword attack

Smell from recycling site troubles neighbours, says councillor

Newsletter

Arts and Culture

  • All
  • Music
  • Theatre
  • Food and Drink
An evening of goth sounds with The March Violets

An evening of goth sounds with The March Violets

15 July 2025
Love Supreme Festival 2025 : Day Three with Maxwell and friends

Love Supreme Festival 2025 : Day Three with Maxwell and friends

14 July 2025
Jessica Winter has ‘Got Something Good’ going on

Jessica Winter has ‘Got Something Good’ going on

13 July 2025
Palindrones headline a night of darkwave sounds in Brighton

Palindrones headline a night of darkwave sounds in Brighton

13 July 2025
Load More

Sport

  • All
  • Brighton and Hove Albion
  • Cricket
Plans for £6.9m swimming pool go before council cabinet

Plans for £6.9m swimming pool go before council cabinet

by Sarah Booker-Lewis - local democracy reporter
15 July 2025
32

Plans for a new public swimming pool are due to go before Brighton and Hove City Council’s cabinet on Thursday...

Sussex Sharks open T20 Blast with a win

Hampshire Hawks thwart Sussex Sharks in Blast

by Alex Smith - ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
13 July 2025
0

Hampshire Hawks 171-4 (17.2 overs) Sussex Sharks 167-7 (20 overs) Hampshire Hawks win by six wickets James Vince hit the...

We have an awful lot of work to do, says Sussex coach

Sussex must up their game in T20, says disappointed Farbrace

by Alex Smith - ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
11 July 2025
1

Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace said: “It is a hugely disappointing night. We haven’t been consistent in the last three...

Sussex Sharks open T20 Blast with a win

Sussex Sharks flounder against Essex in T20 at Chelmsford

by Alex Smith - ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
11 July 2025
0

Essex 148-4 (16.1 overs) Sussex Sharks 145 (18.2 overs) Sussex Sharks lost to Essex by six wickets Michael Pepper’s pyrotechnical...

Load More
July 2012
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Jun   Aug »

RSS From Sussex News

  • Suspected fare dodger attacks ticket inspector on train 15 July 2025
  • Man dies in three-car crash 13 July 2025
  • Boy, 15, injured in sword attack 13 July 2025
  • Water company brings in hosepipe ban after dry spring 11 July 2025
  • Police officer spared prison after being caught with child porn 11 July 2025
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy
  • Complaints
  • Ownership, funding and corrections
  • Ethics
  • T&C

© 2023 Brighton and Hove News

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Opinion
  • Arts and Culture
    • Music
    • Theatre
  • Sport
    • Cricket
  • Newsletter
  • Public notices
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Contact

© 2023 Brighton and Hove News