Questions & Answers
Frequently asked questions, including the tricky ones, are answered on this page. Click on a question to reveal the answer. If still can't find your answer please feel free to ask us.
Q: Why were we originally told the proposed site is by Lessiters in Woolmer Green?
A: When the campaign started we hadn’t identified a site but were looking around at various options. After a few weeks we were offered the Knebworth South site. Recently we realised the site near Lessiters was mentioned again in the newspapers and we have since discussed this with them and we are now all clear as to the proposed location. Our website has displayed maps showing the Knebworth South site since June. We have not printed or published information specifying any other site.
Q: How would it benefit the community by destroying a picturesque field used by walkers, dog walkers, and with views enjoyed by residents that overlook the field?
A: It’s a very large plot of land (90 acres) and only a small part of it will be used for the school. Currently the field is private property and used by a farmer. Our proposal will make more of the land publically accessible. We will build woodlands, a park, a pond, all for public use. This would also enhance the ecological diversity of the site which is currently very limited.
Q: Will public and school transport be affected?
A: It would give us a chance to improve public transport for our villages. The situation regarding school buses could do with attention anyway, as at present there is no shelter and an unsafe waiting area (Knebworth Sites Appraisal 2007). If we could reduce the need for larger buses and use minibuses it would be safer for everyone, as we could use alternative pick up points.
Q: I think Knebworth should remain a village. Won’t 200 new homes turn it into a small town?
A: The new Government has said it will support plans for our new school and it's likely that central funding may be provided. This means we have brushed aside plans to build houses in light of this recent oppertunity.
Please note that half the land we are looking at for the school is in Welwyn Hatfield.
Q: Greenbelt should not be built on. Why is the campaign proposing to do this?
A: The North Herts Local Development Framework (LDF) has already proposed to build on one of 6 green field sites. However, we no longer plan to build houses, just a school. The school will take up just a small plot in this very large field. We do not want to tarmac green fields! The area surrounding the school will be kept as it is or crafted into a place of beauty with a new woodland, park, pond, and playing fields. Our proposal will enhance the ecology of the site attacting new wildlife, plants and insects.
Q: What will become of the existing cemetery?
A: The land the cemetery is on was donated by Knebworth Estates to the village. It now belongs to the council so we have no influence in its future. We will NOT disturb it.
Q: Why can't we just keep sending our kids to Stevenage, Welwyn Garden City or Ware schools?
A: Parents should have the right to do that if they wish, but there is a lot of demand in our 5 villages for a local choice which we don't currently have. Stevenage West will be build in the next several years and demand for Stevenage schools will increase with from within Stevenage itself. Welwyn Hatfield ranked 3rd as the UK's largest area for population growth in recent years from 2001 and is projected to be the UK's 6th largest area for population growth between now and 2018. The demand and competition for school places will keep increasing, that is a fact.
Local primary schools are already looking at ways to expand to copy with population growth. For example, St Michael’s in Woolmer Green are increasing capacity and need more classrooms. Knebworth Primary also want to expand. As their capacity is increased there will be more demand for places at follow-on schools too.
Q: If schools in Stevenage are finding places for our children why do we need a new school in Knebworth?
A: Half of children in Knebworth are not given their first choice of school. A third didn't get their first, second or third choice! This percentage fairs badly with other towns and villages, especially Stevenage whose children get priority. In fact 98% of Stevenage get their first choice leaving Knebworth children to get what’s left over. We deserve to have the same chance of sending our children to our preferred choice of schools but this is not happening.
Children can’t walk or cycle from our villages to schools in Stevenage, but a local school will give the majority of them the opportunity to walk and by that they are exercising which is essential when childhood obesity is on the increase. This will in addition reduce the number of car journeys necessary.
Q: Wouldn't a school in our area increase traffic as parents drive their children through our villages to school?
A: The new school will be well within a 25 minute walking distance for at least half of the children there will be roughly 300 less school runs by car each morning. Therefore there will be no increase in traffic through Knebworth or Woolmer Green. Furthermore, there will be less traffic causing congestion on the road going up to Stevenage or down to Welwyn Garden City where existing school runs fill the road.
Q: Wouldn’t the school’s catchment area eventually expand to solve placement issues further afield resulting in local children not getting into the school?
A: The primary reason for building the school is to serve local children. The mums and dads putting their heart and soul into the campaign are only interested in getting a school for local use and our children will always have the priority, just as children in Stevenage are given the priority to attend their local schools ahead of outsiders from Knebworth.
Q; Is it safe to locate a school close to a railway?
A: As safe as it is to locate a village near a railway. We have lived with the railway in our village and will continue to do so. The railway is raised above ground level. There will be suitable protection to ensure the children’s safely.
Q: Will parents still drive to school anyway?
A; No, kids want to be independent at secondary school age, and when a school is local will be glad to make their own way to school with their friends. We are looking at initiatives in order to improve foot and cycle paths, ensuring the safety of our children.
Q: Didn’t the village secondary school in Wheathampstead close because there weren’t enough children attending?
A: We have spoken to a District Councillor from Wheathampstead who said it was a very successful school built in the 1960’s. There were 4 key reasons why it closed in 1989 which are...
1) National policy changed to favour 5-form entry schools and Wheathampstead was 3-form entry and had no space on its site to expand.
2) The County Council said they need to close a school because they had calculated the child population was going to decrease. Their calculations turned out to be completely wrong.
3) Malicious rumours were started saying that Wheathampstead is going to close. These rumours were untrue as no decision had been made, but was enough to cause parents to worry and send their children elsewhere. As a result fewer children enrolled and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
4) There was political interest to protect nearby Manland School from closure. “It was pure politics that closed Wheathampstead”, we are told by the District Councillor.
There is renewed demand in their village to build a new school because children are bussed off everywhere including to the other side of St Albans and parents rarely get their first or second choice of school.