On 19 April Sir Geoffrey met with Gareth Burton, the new head of Chipping Campden School, who joined the school last September.
Having visited this school frequently over many years as the Member of Parliament, he has been delighted to see this historic school's continuing development and to hear about their exciting plans for the future.
It was the first time he had visited since the opening of the new Performing Arts Centre, a truly state-of-the-art and impressive facility, and a huge benefit to the school and the town. After a tour of the facility, there was an informal lunch followed by a round table discussion primarily to discuss the ongoing local debate about the land off Aston Road in Chipping Campden. There was representation from a variety of interested parties including Cllr Lynden Stowe who represents the Campden-Vale ward at Gloucestershire County Council and James Brain, Head of Planning at Cotswold District Council, Doctors from the local surgery, Geoff Barrett a Governor at the School, and others.
The main points of discussion were ongoing issues with the car park including the school's 16 coaches causing severe traffic congestion meaning school staff are left coordinating traffic on a frequent basis, concerns about the increasing population on the surgery and its already overstretched facilities.
There has been a project planned and plans drawn up for several years to provide essential infrastructure and environmental improvements to Chipping Campden including a new surgery and medical centre premises with a car park, a new school car park, and the building of affordable housing with a new access road. Despite having unanimous support from the local community, the project has stalled for land acquisition reasons.
Commenting, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said:
“I thought this was a very productive meeting where several actions were agreed. At the end of the meeting I suggested another one in 6 months time which would be useful to measure progress to ensure a solution is found to all the issues discussed, and that these vital facilities and infrastructure improvements are delivered for the long-term future of the town”.
