Saving our schools and our community.

Firstly, I wish to thank you for coverage of this issue. I believe that the school system change is an excuse to claim land for development. If the education committee was serious about our children's education they could have proposed the change without introducing a super school, or closing any school in Borehamwood. Many areas such as St Albans, Hemel Hempstead etc, are operating a two-tier system with schools ranging from 500 to 1,100 pupils. It seems strange that the school the education committee chose to be the super school is on Green Belt land that they couldn't build on.

Some residents of Borehamwood think that the changes planned will not affect them -- this cannot be further from the truth. The county council will build approximately 1,000 properties on and around the sites of the old schools; there will be around 3,000 more people in the area; 1,500 of those will probably have cars. This will impact on everyone whether they have children or not. The parking facilities will get worse and the congestion in town will be horrendous.

The whole community will suffer, doctor and dentist surgeries will be full, the new (smaller) swimming pool will be full, the new bowling alley and cinemas will become congested.

The people really need to think about the implications of the proposed changes, they need to get involved, attend the meetings, and join the proposed rally through the High Street.

Please encourage people to sign the petitions in support of Save Our Schools, as the county council will measure the response. If you can, write letters to your MP, the media or the education minister, it will help. These people need to know how Borehamwood people feel.

Mark Prior

Featherstone Gardens

Borehamwood.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.