Future of Surbiton Hospital in balance
The PCT has commissioned a report from McKinseys on the future of Surbiton Hospital. The Surrey Comet carries a report which you can read in abbreviated form on the above link.
We take the view that we should not comment on the report until we have had an opportunity to read it. However, as Paul Johnston told the Comet, “Our view is, as it has always been, that the Hospital should remain as a state of the art medical facility for the people of Surbiton. It may well combine other facilities on the same site. Alongside doctors’ surgeries could be other outpatient facilities and quite possibly some Council services could have a base there too. The PCT could perhaps move its offices onto the site to avoid having to pay for its present expensive offices on Hollyfield Road.”
Surbiton Forum 
Surbiton is screaming out for primary school places, not medical facilites.
Kingston hospital is only 20/25 minutes away by the K2 bus which goes straight to the hospital front door.
Develop a new primary and nursery school on the hospital site.
Move Maple Infants and the Surbiton Childrens Centre to the new site.
Sell Maple Infants for private development.
Develop social housing on the SCC site.
Simple.
There is a real crisis in primary schools provision.
This coming year, RBK is proposing to meet the shortfall in Surbiton and Berrylands by creating extra places in Knollmead and Tolworth.
For those who can’t get places in Surbiton, ie those who live in the area
east of surbiton station
north of the surbiton lawn tennis club
south of Cranes Park Avenue,
you’ll be faced with a possible 3 and a half hour commute every day to bring your 4 year old to a school south of the A3.
An absolute disgrace and a poor reflection on the calibre of RBK officers and councillors alike (of all parties).
Many parents will be forced to either give up work, go private, or move to an area that actually provides enough school places.
Surely the primary school crisis is more important than the dribble you guys spend your time dealing with, eg renaming of car parks.
I agree with you about renaming of car parks, but the Lib Dems would have it changed, hence it was changed.
I also agree with you about the need for primary school places, though I’m not so sure if parents of children at Maple Infants would welcome a move to Ewell Road. However the places issue was raised at Neighbourhood twice on Wednesday, latterly by me suggesting that more be done with money raised locally in Section 106 planning agreements to provide extra places in Surbiton schools. Grand Avenue was one which had been mentioned from the floor of the meeting.
You are rather too cavalier with the health needs of Surbiton residents, however. The concerns most commentators have raised with me are that
(a) Kingston Hospital just can’t take on the workload currently carried out at Surbiton (and there is still quite a bit of OP work going on there) and that
(b)it is either too costly or time consuming or both to get to Kingston Hospital from various parts of Surbiton and Chessington.
Re the questions at the neighbourhood meeting.
The reports I received were that NOT ONE COUNCILLOR could look the worried parent in the eye when he challenged them as to what they proposed to do about RBK’s outrageous decision to force Surbiton and Berrylands kids as far as Knollmead to get an education.
Lots of furtive downward glances and incoherent mumbling when the questioner then highlighted that only a couple of councillors had even bothered replying to emails on the issue.
What sort of public representatives have we got here, when they can’t recognise the seriousness of a situation where people may be forced to give up jobs/move house in the current economic climate?
All because RBK has failed to provide enough primary school places in Surbiton?
I missed the open questions at the start of the meeting, but arrived to see you guys entertain yourseleves with self-congratulatory jocularity about minor issues, eg what constitutes Tolworth.
You didn’t have much to say about your lack of action re the impending schools crisis.
How could this situation have been allowed to develop on your watch?
I’ve been told that primary school children in the Cheyne Hill area have been getting offers of places as far away as Malden Manor as far back as 2005.
What have you guys done to try and rectify this situation?
In the last three weeks, I’ve been in contact with the DCSF, have presented Ed Balls with notice that we are seeking a formal Determination of the legality of RBK’s actions, have been in touch with Liberty, British Humanist Association, Human Rights solicitors, the Office of Schools Adjudication, our local MP, oh and RBK’s Alice in Wonderland-esqu Admission section.
In that time, I haven’t received a reply from a conservative councillor that I contacted, nor from Helen Whately, whose office I contacted. That says it all frankly.
Me thinks you are rather too cavalier with the educational needs of the youngest Surbiton residents, however.
The concerns most commentators have raised with me are that
(a) RBK officers and councillors have allowed a situation to develop whereby Surbiton can not provide sufficient school places for Surbiton children.
(b)it is either too costly or time consuming or both for parents to get to Knollmead from various parts of Surbiton and Berrylands ON A DAILY BASIS (ie not sporadically as per hospital vistis).
Re “more be done with money raised locally in Section 106 planning agreements to provide extra places in Surbiton schools. Grand Avenue was one which had been mentioned from the floor of the meeting.”
Hopefully the intellectual agitilty exists to realise that we have two separate issues here:
1. Provision of extra places in time for Sep 2009, located closest to the areas of unmet demand(ie Surbiton & Berrylands).
2. Permanent expansion of primary and nursery school provision in Surbiton. This problem has been ongoing since 2004, and is getting worse every year.