The Cabinet had regard to a Notice of Motion which had been proposed by Councillor Phil Gilchrist and seconded by Councillor Dave Mitchell at the meeting of the Council held on 8 December 2014 (Minute No. 82 refers).  The Notice of Motion had been referred by the Mayor to the Cabinet for consideration. 

In accordance with Standing Order 7 (6), Councillor Phil Gilchrist had been invited to attend the meeting to provide him with the opportunity to explain the Motion to Cabinet Members. 

Councillor Phil Gilchrist informed that he was not happy with the way the decision to close the Lyndale School had been made.  It had been a difficult time for parents, Cabinet Members and Officers, it had not been an easy situation to address and he now considered that it was time to take stock of the arrangements that had been made. 

Councillor Phil Gilchrist also informed that the parents of children at the School had submitted a number of questions, particularly about finance, in a report circulated to all Members in June 2014 which had never been answered. He appreciated that it was difficult as the proposed closure of the School had been out to public consultation but unfortunately, distress had been caused as no detail or assurances had been provided. 

Before the consultation meetings had taken place Councillor Gilchrist informed that he had requested that the issues raised by the parents be recorded accurately and properly about how the proceedings had been reported back to the Cabinet as he considered that it had led to ‘a practice of the loss of the sense of the emotion as the bullet points that had been provided did not capture what the parents had wanted to get across’.  He was critical about the way that the consultation meetings had been chaired as he was of the opinion that the Chair had been rude and brusque. Councillor Gilchrist was also critical of the consultant’s report on the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Improvement Test.

Councillor Phil Gilchrist believed that there may be a legal challenge to the decision to close the Lyndale School.  He was aware that funds were being raised for this purpose and legal aid may be involved.

The Notice of Motion had regard to the Council’s Corporate Plan and the assurance therein to safeguard and protect the vulnerable people of the Borough and Councillor Phil Gilchrist requested that consideration be given to whether the Council had done thing properly, carefully, whether the SEN Improvement Test had been properly applied and that parental and independent representations that had questioned the proposer’s assessment had been taken into account.

The Council had referred the Notice of Motion to the Cabinet that called on it to:

(a)    look at these pledges and commitments (in the Corporate Plan);

(b)  question whether these were carefully and properly applied at all times during the consideration of the needs of the children at the Lyndale School; and

(c)  report to Council on how the SEN Improvement  ...  view the full minutes text for item 128