'Meals in tents, asbestos and no heating': Conditions in Biggleswade SEND school branded 'unacceptable'
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Ongoing delays to the project prompted Ivel Valley School and College’s chairman of governors, Mark Tripp, to write an open letter to council leader Adam Zerny.
Mr Tripp said: “I’m taking this unprecedented action in writing to you in this manner, as I’ve serious concerns around the proposed council budgets in 2025 and what this will mean for our school.
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Hide Ad“A capital budget was agreed by your council in 2023/24 which provided £43m funding for a much-needed school for Ivel Valley. This new school was to increase our offer to 330 pupils.


“By building this new facility, CBC was to free up our current site for the building of a Department for Education-funded free school. The addition of both would create many extra SEND places for Central Bedfordshire.
“This is particularly important because of the high number of Central Bedfordshire students still currently unable to access school placements they deserve and the huge costs involved with transporting students to out-of-county provisions.
“We were hearing throughout 2024 the proposed new build had increased in cost by £20m, way above anything considered inflationary. Our current site is no longer fit for purpose, has expanded beyond reason and is in desperate need of replacing. We’re bursting at the seams.
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Hide Ad“Classrooms are too small, inadequately equipped and insufficient to meet the needs of all our students. By building this new facility, CBC was to free up our current site for the building of a Department for Education-funded free school,” he explained.
“It’s unacceptable in 2025 travelling across grass to access teaching areas while in wheelchairs and specialist beds, eating meals in tents, being taught in classrooms with asbestos materials, and having staff left in rooms without heating and water. I urge you to rethink the current strategy around investment.”
Independent Leighton Linslade West councillor Steve Owen said in a statement: “I visited Ivel Valley School before Christmas, seeing for myself the issues about which the headteacher has been asking for action.
“The capital programme for 2025/26 being proposed by the executive for the budget meeting in February includes a provision for 330 special school places, and delivering these is a priority.
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Hide Ad“Intensive work by officers is continuing to identify the best practical way of achieving this objective. Senior officers have visited the school to discuss various options with the headteacher, most recently this morning. (Jan 30th)
“Councillors will make the final decision on the priority of these projects in CBC’s capital programme and the allocation of funds to them, next month. The planning process sitting above these individual school place projects is the council’s school organisation plan, which is due to be published again in three months’ time.
“All councillors had the opportunity at workshops in December to contribute to the early stages of this plan, as it affects every school in their wards,” added executive member for children’s services and community safety councillor Owen. “They’ll have a further opportunity at the February budget meeting and again when the plan is shared with them.”
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