Winter 2023

DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Education, Medical
Services and the Wellbeing
of our Community
In the last edition of Cake,
we covered the story
‘Cranbrook Education
in Crisis’. Since then,
over 120 people have
attending public meetings about
establishing the facts of this
crisis – the presentation and
notes from these are available
on the front page of the parish
council website under ‘Projects’.
To recap, we lost Rainbow preschool
due to lack of premises,
the primary school needs
expansion but there is no plan,
and the closure of High Weald
has resulted in overcrowded
buses taking our children for up
to an hour each way, increased
home schooling, truancy and
a continued lack of vocational
training. Added to this is the
unaffordability of the proposed
medical/library/community
centre in the Crane Valley. The
parish council has always been
clear that it would not indebt
the parishioners by taking
unaffordable loans. As a result,
we have taken a step back and
reviewed other options.
We are undertaking a review of
all the land we own in the Crane
Valley to find a more effective
(and cheaper) way of providing
a community centre, library and
maybe ‘town square’. We want
to be creative and innovative.
The application to make the old
High Weald Sixth Form Centre
an ‘Asset of Community Value’
has been validated and awaits
confirmation by TWBC. This
could provide a new medical
The old High Weald Sixth Form Centre
centre over two floors and a preschool
in the old changing room
area. It already has planning
permission for a 200-squaremetre
extension if required.
A meeting with the heads of
education at KCC to discuss the
primary school expansion is
expected soon.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
Central government has put
aside £200 million in grants
to reconfigure buildings of
Community Value. This has to
be match funded, but it would
potentially halve the cost to
the community. This depends
on getting the building from
the Leigh Academy Trust
(Snowfields) who are not using it.
Academies are run by the
Department of Education in
London, who know even less
of the conditions in the High
Weald than KCC. They want
data-driven arguments to prove
a new secondary school would
attract 125 pupils every year.
High Weald had 1,200 pupils in
its heyday, but a lack of courses
drove people to sending children
to schools further away, starting
the downward spiral. The data
argument has to be based on
new housing built across all the
13 parishes over the last five
years and what is planned for
the future. But a more accurate
assessment of demand for
school places should be made
by calculating the number
of bedrooms rather than the
number of houses.
The Oasis School in Sheppey
has just been closed because it
was failing. It is being reopened
as two schools, one academic,
the other vocational. This is
proof that change can happen
and, as the voters, we should be
able to make changes. But this
will only happen if we get our act
together. Change is being forced
The old High Weald Academy
on our communities with the
new housing. We had 13 parishes
sending children to High Weald,
so banding together would make
our voices louder and more
effective.
Developers’ contributions
to infrastructure (Section
106 Agreements) need to be
collated to see what money
may be available, along with
fundraising (bids to charitable
foundations and the lottery,
bequests, sponsorship, local
fund raising), journalists, social
media expertise, delivering
flyers, co-ordinating with other
parishes, database management,
educationalists, landscape
architects for the Crane Valley,
construction engineers, project
managers… There are many
opportunities for you to help
deliver improved healthcare and
education to our community.
Don’t just sit there, DO
something! Email clerk@cspc.
org.uk with how you can help.
Do it NOW, don’t think you will
do it later, you probably won’t!
Cllr Kim Fletcher, chairman,
Cranbrook and Sissinghurst
Parish Council
8 The Cake • Winter 2023