Mr Douglas Watson

I am Douglas Watson. First I would like to thank Portobello Park Action Group for inviting me to speak at this meeting. I have been asked to speak about the proposals for Portobello Park from a parent’s perspective.

I am a Park Avenue resident and I care deeply about the future of Portobello Park. My fellow speakers have spoken about the Park from the point of view of golfers, footballers and local residents. I will just briefly add that many children also benefit greatly from such a large open green space at the centre of the community.

Portobello Park offers play that is free and open. There are no restrictions on ball games; no swing parks covered in broken glass to worry about; no water or landscaping to get in the way. From a child’s perspective these are all limitations of the other Portobello parks.

The park offers diverse wildlife – squirrels, foxes and woodpeckers to name a few. It is a wonderful learning environment.

As I said I care deeply about Portobello Park but I also care deeply about the education of my children. I know many people are trapped by this apparent conflict of interest.

As a parent of three children currently attending St Johns and who will be attending Portobello High School, my family would benefit, more than most, from these proposals.

With my eldest child going to secondary school this August, I recently looked around several schools to help decide which one would be best for my family. I decided on Portobello High School because I was impressed by its ethos, its teaching staff and the pupils I met – the school had a good feel about it.

I was aware the building was not ideal and needed significant maintenance work. This has not changed since my wife attended the school. She never felt the poor design or construction affected her education. These were minor considerations that did not influence our decision to choose Portobello High School for our children.

In the last seven years I have had a lot of involvement with St. Johns Primary School and there has never been any suggestion it was needing to be rebuilt.

When my children came home and excitedly told us they were going to get a new school on the park my first thought was – WHY?

The present St Johns is a good solid building and its space problems have been improved in recent times. I quickly came to the conclusion it was only included in the proposal to allow its current site to be developed and sold.

My second thought was disgust - the council using children to influence parents in order to sell their proposal to the wider community. It takes a strong parent to withstand this type of emotional blackmail.

Although the proposal initially sounded appealing (new school for free), I do not think it stands up to scrutiny.

Firstly, if we do not sacrifice the Park would my children’s education suffer?

I do not consider the present proposal to be an issue about our children. I remain unconvinced the children would benefit that much just by having a new school building – bricks and mortar are a very small part of a good school. Has there been a dramatic improvement in the performance of children at other schools with new buildings? Has the performance of the children at Portobello High School or St John’s really declined as the buildings have aged? I am sure the answer is no.

It would be nice to have playing fields next to the High School. However it is not critical – many good schools manage very well with off site playing fields. Also, I find it difficult to believe the proposal that 1/3 of the park can fully support a primary school, a secondary school, parking, playgrounds as well as playing fields.

There ARE other options for a new High School which do not involve losing the Park. They need to be explored on an equal footing with the council’s only proposal.

Another thing that does not ring true to me is that Portobello High School missed out on the PPP funding because there are at least six other schools more needy than Portobello. To me this is a strong indicator that the condition of the school is not as bad as is being suggested. We must therefore not be panicked into adopting this proposal on the grounds the school is in a critical condition and that our children’s education would consequently suffer.

My last issue with this proposal is that the council believes they now have the legal right (if not the moral right) to sell the park. It seems to me that they are keen to make as much money from it as possible.

The council’s financial problems have been well publicised. I am sure the council could use the extra cash to avoid making savings or raising council tax.

Now I am only speculating, but I hope to provoke thought on why the council are really so keen to push through this one proposal:

Perhaps the council could have proposed simply to build houses on 2/3 of the park and leave the schools as they are. This would raise a significant sum of money. However this would have raised almost unanimous opposition – not good politics.

The current proposal could raise the same funds and would split the opposition, parents verses park users. The council would have to spend the funds raised on the schools, but would save on high maintenance costs and avoid their future expenditure commitment on a new High School.

I am very concerned that even if an alternative option is adopted for a new High School, the sale of the land for housing or other developments will eventually happen anyway, unless it is legally protected. I fear the council’s desire for money will eventually get the better of them. I am completely against stripping the assets of the people of Portobello as a strategy for dealing with a lack of finance.

There are other options for a new High School which do not involve losing the Park – but these do require other funding - if this means waiting then so be it.

Impatience for a new high school may deliver a new school a few years earlier but it may not be the best option and the Park would be lost forever.

I conclude that this is not an issue of Parents verses Park Users. If we do not unite as a community, the coucil will push this (or similar) proposal through to make money from the Park.

Finally I urge you all to think about the issues involved with this proposal. Do not be panicked into selling the family silver. It is essential for the good of all the Portobello community (including its children), that the best solution is found for the future of the High School and the Park.

Please write NOW to the Council to ask them for full public consultation on all options and funding methods, not just the one solution they want to push forward.

Thank you for your time