Leader of Three Rivers District Council and Liberal Democrat councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst has launched a petition for a new secondary school in Abbots Langley.
In the petition, cllr Giles-Medhurst has also requested that Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) deliver a new primary school he claims has been promised in the village.
Launching the petition, cllr Giles-Medhurst said: “HCC is aware of the need for a new secondary school in the Abbots Langley area and that has been identified in the Local Plan making process, yet no site has been allocated by HCC.
“With a large number of parents already having to take their children to schools in West Watford, Rickmansworth, St Albans or Bushey, contrary to the council’s climate change agenda, there is now an urgent need to identify a site and get on [with] building one.
“In addition, HCC was ‘given’ a site off Woodside Road by Taylor Wimpey back in 2016 for a new primary school. Everyone thought it would be built soon after the Fraser Crescent development that was finished in 2018. It has not, so again local children have lost out. Now HCC say there are still no immediate plans to build it. This is wrong.”
A spokesperson for HCC said: “There are currently sufficient places available for Abbots Langley families; last year, all secondary transfer applicants were offered a local or a preferred school.
“Looking forward, HCC has previously indicated that Three Rivers should identify a site for a new secondary school in Abbots Langley within its Local Plan, to help support future growth in this and neighbouring areas. This need will continue to be reviewed as Three Rivers, and neighbouring areas such as Hertsmere, further develop Local Plan housing proposals.”
To view the petition, head to www.shorturl.at/AawRn
Photo credit: @AbbotsPrimary on X
At Woodside Road we have 3 secondary schools within 1 or 2 miles so we certainly don’t need a fourth. Also it should not be build on pristine Green Belt land.