Concerns as school access to Welfare blocked ahead of footpath works
Concerns have been raised as access between James Calvert Spence College and Amble Welfare has now been blocked. The gates between the school and the Welfare have been fenced off ahead of work to install lighting columns along the footpath.
To date, there appears to be no timeline for the works to begin, and questions have been raised as to how children and staff will be able to walk across the Welfare once the new term begins.
📷 gates at Amble Welfare have been fenced off
Building work on the new school is running late, with a revised opening date of mid September. Current planning conditions for the new school will require some children and staff to walk from the old school car park, across the Welfare to the new school building. The Ambler understands that these planning conditions have yet to be discharged, and at time of writing, no legal agreement has been reached between Northumberland County Council, and Amble Development Trust who own the Welfare.
Concerns about the lack of access were voiced on social media, and prompted statements from both JCSC and Amble Development Trust:
In a recent post on social media, a spokesperson for JCSC said:
“As members of our community may now be aware, Amble Development Trust (ADT) is currently installing a fence which will prevent access between the school and the Welfare pathway.
We agree that this route is the safest for pupils and we understand the concern that this causes for our parents and wider community.
In meetings earlier in the calendar year, the school made a commitment to pay for any ongoing future costs in terms of lighting. The school also made a commitment to grit the path during the winter months to ensure that the pathway is safe for school users.
However, concerns raised by ADT with Northumberland County Council (NCC) could not be resolved for the start of next academic year in September. We await a resolution to these concerns and believe that meetings between ADT and NCC have taken place. We are hopeful that once a resolution is reached, the pathway will be opened again.
In September, this will have an impact on how our pupils access and exit the current school site and it will also have an impact on bus drop off once we move into our new site. ADT made the school and NCC aware of their intention to erect a fence shortly before the summer holidays. We have provided all pupils with road safety assemblies and we have walked our new intake of Year 7 pupils along Acklington Road as part of their transition days; we wanted to ensure that they can use the route safely. In addition to this, we have temporarily adapted staff duty rotas to support pupils into school via this different route.
We hope that any concerns can be resolved soon and that we can return to using the pathway on the Welfare throughfare as we have done, without incident, for many years.”
📷 sign on the fence at the Welfare
Amble Development Trust have responded with their own statement:
“Following the post on social media by JCSC regarding the fence ADT have erected across the gate at the Welfare, and the inference that ADT is at fault, it is only fair that the truth of the situation is explained.
In November 2022 – before planning was submitted for the new school development, ADT received a phone call asking for a meeting with the Trust as landowners of the land adjacent to the proposed build. That call consisted of ‘oh we need to cross your land, is that okay?’ Our response was: ‘we agree in principle but there needs to be an agreement in place to identify who would be responsible for Health and Safety and Public Liability’. We were told that will be sorted at a later date. Over the intervening four years this conversation did not take place, despite many emails asking what was happening with regards to additional lights and any works required by the school build and the legal agreement. Even until last November NCC were in denial about additional lighting being required until we met and it was agreed ‘it was dark in the winter at night’!
As many of you will know, the Welfare is open to anyone, however a Right of Way (which is what NCC required) is a legal document – one we have been asking for for nearly four years.
This document will set out the responsibilities of each organisation for the safe passage of staff, students and visitors to the new school. To point the finger of blame at the Trust is totally inappropriate, given we have tried hard to get everything in place prior to the school opening.
NCC have steadfastly ignored all our requests, until the last minute. To-date we have received two draft documents, both being flawed with incorrect information. But we have responded to them immediately to try to make progress as quickly as possible. Our version of the amended document now lies with NCC legal team – not ourselves.
The fence has been erected to safeguard Welfare users, members of the community who still have access, from any proposed works that may eventually take place.
The football teams playing at the Welfare have made alternative arrangements for parking.
However it should be noted that JCSC are having works carried out to the existing car park so the gates have been closed from their side and wouldn’t be available for parking while this is taking place.
The Trust has tried to work quietly behind the scenes to resolve all matters in a timely manner and not wanting to bring the reputation of NCC officers in to question, but we cannot sit by and accept criticism from those who know the truth!
As a registered charity we have to follow and comply with all legal aspects of our work especially when linked to property and amenities. This requirement for a Deed of Easement is a legal process.
If anyone would like any further information or have questions to ask about this, please call into the office on Dilston Terrace or ring 01665 712929. We will be more than happy to explain the situation in more depth.”
Anna Williams
