New Littlehampton primary school 'promised' to residents of 1,200-home housing development cancelled

Schoolsworks Community Primary School was planned to be built as part of the Hampton Park development but has now been placed on the Department for Education’s ‘cancelled or withdrawn’ list of free schools on their website.

1,200 new houses are set to be built in the Hampton Park development, and the two-form entry school would have provided a total student capacity of 420 across all year groups.

Littlehampton’s Labour Councillors have expressed their anger at the government’s decision.

Councillor Freddie Tandy, an experienced teacher in a Littlehampton school, said: “To claim the 1,200 new houses planned for the Hampton Park development in North Littlehampton, which is barely a third of the way through construction, would not be sufficient to justify a new educational facility is simply ludicrous.

"The alternative is to expect the primary schools in the rest of the town to pick up the slack, which will mean expecting students as young as four to travel more than 1.5 miles across the A259 dual carriageway to reach schools in a completely different part of town.

“Littlehampton has taken more than its fair share of new developments, and all we’ve ever asked for in return is proper investment in infrastructure to ensure the impact is not felt by our existing townsfolk. These continued broken promises are exactly the reason why new developments now receive such negative reactions from the people of Littlehampton.

"We’ve accommodated the new developments, and welcomed the residents to our community, but now they and us are being treated with utter contempt by our government, and perhaps worst of all by our own MP.

“Who would ever have thought we would see the spectacle of a school being cancelled in the school's minister constituency?”

A petition calling for the government to deliver on the promise of a new school is now set to be presented to West Sussex County Council and MP Nick Gibb. For more information, visit: www.change.org/p/deliver-north-littlehampton-s-promised-primary-school.

Councillor Mike Northeast, who Chairs the North Littlehampton Advisory Group of development stakeholders as one of the Courtwick with Toddington ward’s councillors, added: “This devastating news is a real hammer blow to the families choosing to make North Littlehampton their home.

"All the way back in 2011, after extensive public consultation during the original planning process, we insisted, with the backing of West Sussex County Council’s Education Department, that a brand-new school to cater for the additional students must be provided. So, with developer backing and funding, a site was secured, and agreement reached with a local academy trust to operate the school.

“Many of those families will have chosen to invest the hopes and aspirations of their children here because of the promise of a proper local community primary school. To disappoint them is heartbreaking for us and callous of the government, especially when our own MP Nick Gibb is the Minister for Schools.”

Cllr Northeast added: “This cannot just be accepted as a done deal; as a community it is up to us to ensure that those in power above us hear our concerns, and act upon them."

Nick Gibb and West Sussex County Council have been approached for comment.