Relocating Basildon College to a town centre location is meant to help solve the problem of so-called Neets – youngsters not in education, employment or training – according to Conservative councillor Stephen Horgan.
He has reiterated this in successive meetings and interviews, saying the college will also reinvigorate the economy of the town centre.
His flawed judgment that young people of 16-19 have so much disposable income that the town centre economy will be boosted by their presence is worrying.
A group established by Basildon Council concluded a wide variety of opportunity already exists for young people, that clearer pathways for vocational and academic further education need to be signposted for young people, and that provision should be made as a matter of urgency for young people to re-sit examinations such as GCSE.
It is practising a cruel deception on young people, the Basildon community and local retail interests to claim that simply building a new 2,500-capacity college within yards of the town centre will lead Basildon into a new era of training for all and economic regeneration.
In its letter to local residents the partnership behind the development proposals at Dry Street assert “experience elsewhere has shown” the best location for a new college would be Basildon town centre.
Mr Horgan has admitted the “experience elsewhere”
is Southend. Again the perception that one size fits all is worrying. Basildon is not Southend.
Not so long ago, Basildon College was content to sell off its playing fields for housing development and applied for and obtained planning permission. It had a range of expansion plans on the current site, a site which is currently under capacity in terms of course provision.
The driving force behind the plan to move the college is the Homes and Communities Agency, anxious for a return on its capital asset at Dry Street (which would be developed alongside the current college site). This, as for their predecessor English Partnerships, is their main motivation.
The Basildon community must not be blackmailed or bamboozled into thinking these proposals will do anything other than change the nature and character of this part of Basildon for ever and open the way for even more development in the future.
Geoff Williams
Lib Dem councillor, Nethermayne
Dry Street
Langdon Hills
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