Children could be forced to leave the borough to stay in education unless new schools are built, it has been claimed.
Council proposals for the relocation and building of schools in Hackney Downs, set to begin in 2017, have been met with opposition from residents.
Councillor Rick Muir told a ward forum that although plans were not ideal, they were necessary. “If we don’t build new secondary schools in particular in the next few years, then a lot of Hackney’s kids will be forced to go out of Hackney to go to school,” he said.
However, local resident Patricia Clarke, 63, told Hackney Post: “We’re just absolutely furious that they want to build a secondary school right in the middle of Benthal Road. “You’re going to be destroying our quality of life.”
The borough’s growing population, which increased by more than 11 per cent between 2009 and 2014, is fuelling demand for extra places.
The plans will see Nightingale Primary School move to an unused site on Tiger Way, Benthal Primary School to the Nightingale site and the new secondary school built on the Benthal site.
Benthal primary school. Image: Benthal Primary School
