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Deputy Matt Fallaize has hit back at claims that his Education, Sport and Culture Committee does not want parents and teachers to have the time to respond to their school plans.
The original consultation window for parts of the building plans for the St Sampson's and Les Beaucamps sites was due to come to an end on 27 December, however that has been extended to 23 January in acknowledgement of the busy festive period.
Deputy Fallaize has dismissed accusations that the original window for engagement was a deliberate ploy to preclude teachers and parents from having the time to make their voices heard.
“The claims that this application has been deliberately timed for the school holidays are false. In fact, weeks ago the Committee decided that it would submit its application to maximise the time people have to view and respond to the plans.
“The period for representations ends 21 days after the date of the site notice – in this case the deadline is 23 January 2020. Site notices have now been erected and have a notice date of 2 Jan 2020 even though the application was made on 4 December 2019.
Pictured: The two school sites earmarked for development as part of the one school model.
"This means all the details of the application can be considered over Christmas and New Year and for almost the whole of January."
If there is a consistent pattern of political behaviour, Deputy Fallaize said it comes from those who are criticising his committee's plans, which have been agreed by the States.
“A few deputies do not want our reforms to succeed despite having no clear idea what they would like to see in their place and they will carry on being critical at every turn," he said. "But their criticism about the planning application tries to turn the truth on its head. Their claims of a lack of transparency could not be further from the truth. The truth is that we are deliberately giving people many more weeks to submit representations than is normally the case under planning law.”
The planning application is currently available to view in person at Sir Charles Frossard House and college site plans and traffic impact assessment can be viewed online at gov.gg/lisiaschoolplans.
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