Cornwall Council’s Cabinet has today given the green light for a new school at St Tudy. There are still many potential pitfalls ahead, but at least there is no longer any doubt where the Council stands.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Independent Councillor Neil Burden, moved the recommendations at this morning’s meeting which provide for the purchase of an identified area of land in the village, for additional funding to be put in place, and for Cornwall Council to manage the whole project. I asked at the meeting for the Leader, the Chief Executive, the Cabinet and the Council’s Directors to do everything they can to make sure that no one can criticise the Council in the coming months for not doing enough. I also thanked Neil for his leadership on this issue and for insisting that his officers prepared this report. We wouldn’t have reached this point without him.

The onus is now very much on the Diocesan Board of Education (the schools wing of the Church of England) to keep up their end of the bargain. The £1.3m of ‘Targeted Capital Funding’ left over from the original attempt to build a school in St Tudy is still available provided it is put into use by March 2011. Time is very clearly of the essence. If the Diocese (to whom the money is granted) engage fully now there is no reason why this school cannot be built. (There is even scope for them to lobby the new ministers at the Department of Education for an extension of the March deadline.)

Rest assured that the community of St Tudy and the Federated Governors of St Tudy and St Mabyn Schools will do everything they can to deliver the school that the village so badly needs. It’s reassuring to have Cornwall Council on board too. I hope to be able to say the same thing about the Diocesan Board of Education before too long.