Part of the brief for this blog is to comment on "the stupidity of large organisations". We haven't had much of that yet, so let's make a start with Essex County Council.
Their latest plan is to re-organise the secondary schools in Colchester by closing two of them and sending the children to the other secondary schools in the town which will be enlarged appropriately. On a purely numbers game I have no doubt that the plan will provide sufficient school spaces but, as is usual with Local Government, one department does it's own thing with blinkers on in complete isolation to the others. The members of the Education Committee have obviously never visited Colchester in the school rush hour. With most of the secondary schools located to the west of the town and another two to the north, these areas get completely clogged up for half an hour or more in the morning and again in the afternoon while an endless procession of cars and buses fight for occupation of the same small stretches of road to drop off or pick up children. Anyone who wants to drive straight through just doesn't stand a chance. A five minute trip along Lexden Road, for example, can take at least 35 minutes if undertaken at the wrong time of day.
The two schools Essex County Council want to close are the only two secondary schools to the south of the town. This will mean the entire school population of the south of the town and all the villages to the south of the town having to be shipped somehow to the far side of town adding to the already chaotic traffic situation. This is in direct conflict with the Council's own sustainability policy which states:
"Sustainability is about managing and enhancing the environment and improving the quality of life for existing and future generations. The Council is committed through its policies and decision making to protecting and improving the environment and to ensure its decisions are sustainable in environmental, social and economic terms."
This stupid idea is not sustainable in environmental terms (far more vehicle journeys into already busy areas), social terms (it will destroy the social fabric of the communities to the south of the town) or economic terms (the ongoing costs to these families of having to transport their children to the far side of town and then return on five days a week doesn't bear thinking about). In addition it is not long ago that the Council was trying to encourage more children to walk to school to (a) help the environment and (b) help the fight against obesity. This will be impossible under the new scheme as the distances involved will just be too great. Children would spend half the day walking, assuming they were willing to undertake the feat.
One consultation on various schemes has already been held. If the local press is to be relied on, the vast majority of people in Colchester are strongly against this particular proposal, yet it seems it has emerged as the front-runner and a second consultation is being held on just this scheme. Whatever happened to local democracy (or common sense for that matter)? The people deciding this matter obviously come from Basildon or Harlow or Epping and have probably never been to Colchester in their lives.
This scheme must not be allowed to come to fruition. It will make a laughing stock of the County Council and will make life a misery for a large part of the population of Colchester (and not just the school-going families either!).
Local Authorities in general get a lot of bad press for appointing people to strange posts which most others can't see the need for. What they all seem to have failed to do is appoint a "Director of Common Sense". Such a person would sit independantly of all the other departments and committees and would review the schemes and proposals put forward by the main departments and committees to ensure that they were sensible and in compliance with overall council policies and strategies. In short .... to take the holistic view rather than just the financial view. I am available for such a role should Essex County Council care to get in touch.
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