There are few issues in Llandaff North as contentious as the former Hawthorn Junior School building. Objectively, an architecturally uninteresting school building of which there are dozens in Cardiff, and hundreds in Wales. Subjectively, a building which has been the heart of Llandaff North village for more than 100 years and must not be lost. The pragmatic approach must lie between these two extremes.
A shuttered Hawthorn Junior School building
To give some context, the school was merged with nearby Hawthorn Infants School to create the new Hawthorn Primary School in 2009. The Council embarked on this process in response to the increasing amount of money being spent on school buildings, and not on education. The Council invested £2m in the amalgamated Primary school, creating excellent facilities to pupils and staff. The Council always intended to sell off the old site to pay for that investment. However, no-one took the time to make sure local residents knew the plan.
The future of the school is uncertain because of competing interests. The vocal Llandaff North Residents’ Association (which has now subsumed the Save Hawthorn Junior School Building action group) is trumpeting calls to keep the building in the community, i.e. give it a community purpose. The Council is trying to extract the maximum amount of money from the site to make the books balance, easily achieved by selling off the site to the highest bidder. As with so much in life, a compromise is the way forward.
I am hoping for a split in usage; part private housing and part community centre. The smaller wing of the school building would make a perfect community centre, with larger facilities than we currently have. It may also provide an opportunity for some new blood to become involved in the running of the community centre. The larger part of the building would easily accommodate a number of flats, bringing more investment to the area and more money being spent in the local economy.
Whatever the outcome, it doesn’t disguise the lack of communication that created this situation in the first place. The Council and local councillors must share the blame in their collective failure to keep residents properly informed. It was naïve, at best, to think that bits of paper tied to the school railings would be enough to inform residents of such a major development. Open and honest dialogue could have avoided many of the problems. Bringing local communities on board to explore options is the intelligent and democratic way of doing things. Local representatives must share information; hoarding it away is counter productive, undemocratic and downright destructive.
However, there is another potential avenue. The internationally successful Steiner Waldorf model of teaching is already present in Cardiff and they have expressed provisional interest in the school building. Their plan? To use it as a primary school.
David Coggins Cogan is a member of the Lib Dem Focus Team in Llandaff North. He studied Law at Cardiff University and intends to stand in 2012 local government elections in Llandaff North.
Related posts:
- Llandaff North’s shuttered Hawthorn Junior School up for sale on Council listings website
- Save Hawthorn Junior School Building meeting at Llandaff North Community Centre
- Llandaff North Residents’ Association meeting
- Llandaff North Residents’ Association meeting
- Llandaff North Residents’ Association meeting
