08:06 Monday 11th April 2011
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
PAUL STAINTON: The English Democrats have accused the ruling Conservative Party of electioneering ahead of next month’s local elections. It follows the news on Friday that Stanground College and Orton Longueville Schools would share £34 million pounds for major rebuilding works. Jonathan Lewis from the City Council broke the news on the show. (TAPE)
JONATHAN LEWIS: When we started the Building Schools for the Future programme, we put aside £40 million to support the overall building of the school, assuming then Government funding was coming on top. We still have around £34 million of that money left, and now we feel is the right time to start the build work with the money we have, and an expectation that there will still be money from Government, and you know, we’re fairly confident we will get something. But we want to get on. We want to transform the schools. And we want to make a difference. (LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: However, Opposition parties have questioned whether this announcement should have been made at such a politically sensitive time. Earlier, we heard from Councillor Stephen Goldspink. He’s standing in Stanground Central ward for the English Democrats. (TAPE)
STEPHEN GOLDSPINK: They’ve known about this money being in the budget since back in February, when it was published. They were apparently going to spend £73 million on the schools. Now they’re only going to spend £34 million, and hope they get some Government money on top. But why announce it now? They’ve known all about this for a long long time, and there was no reason to announce it right in the middle of an election period. It came from the schools, but it also came from the Education Department. You’ve spoken to Jon Lewis. And they rang up the schools, told them the news last Wednesday, because I checked with the schools. They could have said to the schools, keep this to yourselves please. It’s an election period, and there’s a convention that we do not make major announcements during election periods. They didn’t do that. (LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: We also heard from the Labour candidate Chris York in the first hour of the show. Also standing in Stanground central, John Swallow for the Independents, and Marco Cereste for the Conservatives, Leader of Peterborough City Council, who joins me now. Morning Marco. Continue reading “Cereste Pleads Ignorance and Blames Others for Purdah Breach”
