By Isle of Wight Observer
Isle of Wight MP, Bob Seely, has been accused of “politicising” education by the IW councillor responsible for education.
On Monday, Mr Seely spoke about school places in the House of Commons and said: “On the Isle of Wight, councillors are proving unwilling or incapable of delivering a school place plan despite their legal duty.”
Cllr Jonathan Bacon responded that although an “outline plan and approach” is in place, the “unilateral political decision” by Conservatives on Hampshire County Council to terminate the decade-long partnership on children’s services, means the council cannot now deal with the issues until new management arrangements are in place.
He added: “Unfortunately the MP is taking a very selective and politicised approach. He has not contacted me or education officers about these issues, and when the Education Secretary visited the Island, she did not respond to the invitation to discuss matters with us.” He added, “We are happy to explain the work we are doing to the MP should he choose to engage with us. Matters are not helped by politicising the situation.”
Officers and councillors have been aware of problems with excess school places since 2018. When asked why the Conservatives had not dealt with it while they ran the council until 2021, Mr Seely said that action had been taken in the West Wight and they had “planned to look at Ryde, Cowes and Ventnor after that.”
The spat comes after the Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan, visited the Island on October 13, but did not inform the council of her visit. Mr Seely declined to say who had organised her itinerary for the visit.