The council has submitted to the Government a city-wide strategy for rebuilding or refurbishing all secondary schools and the Government has accepted it and allocated funding accordingly.

The first part of this, approximately £170m, is well underway, having been either completed, or in the course of completion, for example, High Storrs.

The second tranche is for 11 schools, approximately £250m, and the Government has agreed to provide the money from the 'Building Schools for the Future' programme. This includes the Myers/Wisewood proposal.

On four separate occasions during the discussions about Myers Grove and Wisewood the council were advised by the Government that the money was being provided to complete the strategy which it had already agreed. It confirmed that it was not likely that funding would be provided for Myers and Wisewood separately, as this did not meet the need to address falling pupil numbers.

Indeed, both the headteacher of Myers Grove School and the headteacher of Wisewood School have supported the merger of the two schools as the only long term and viable solution to the problems of falling rolls in this area of the city and inadequate buildings at the two schools;
The fact that all 32 headteachers of Sheffield's secondary and special schools are unanimous in supporting the merger of Myers Grove and Wisewood schools is because they have been involved with the city-wide strategy and understand and support the decision made by the Council.

This information has been available to all parties on the council and the fact that the Liberal Democrats campaigned at two elections on a promise they could not keep is very regrettable indeed. No wonder people are losing faith in the democratic process when a commitment is made and then reneged on because it was something which not could be delivered.

The new Liberal Democrat Council now accepts that the two-school option which was promised to the electorate was only available if the council was prepared to put at risk very significant investment in educational provision throughout the city.

The Lib Dems have broken a fundamental rule of politics, which is don't make a promise you can't deliver.

The Government has been entirely consistent in its position regarding Sheffield's plans for the future. It gave the Lib Dems exactly the same information as it gave to Labour when we were in administration and which has been in the public domain throughout.

The building programme has now slipped by a year, for goodness sake let's put all this behind us and get behind the plans for a brand new school



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