I FEEL compelled to add to the debate over Oxford School and the proposal by County Hall to turn it into an academy. I was involved in the discussions surrounding the making of Peers School into an academy and my experience is that the County Council usually wants to make a fast buck so it can reduce council tax, making it popular with its core Conservative voters in the villages and towns, often at the disadvantage of people in Oxford. The fast buck in the case of Peers School was a proposal to sell off a strip of playing-field land for housing. Fortunately at an early stage I was able to scotch that scheme by involving Sport England, which takes a dim view of selling off sports land. So the new Oxford Academy was able to retain the Peers footprint.

This time however, the County is playing its cards close to its chest.

Its plans and proposals are largely confidential and ‘not in the public interest’ to disclose. So I am asking for the County to come clean about its plans and in particular whether it intends to sell off any Oxford School land.

Cllr John Saunders (Labour), Cowley & Littlemore