Richmond Council unveils plans to buy St John's Hospital site for new primary school (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Richmond Council unveils plans to buy St John's Hospital site for new primary school

10:55am Thursday 18th February 2010

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A disused mental health hospital looks set to be turned into a primary school - if council bosses agree to buy the site next week.

Richmond Council’s cabinet is set to approve the purchase of a portion of St John’s Hospital so it can be turned into a two-form primary school in just over two years, at a meeting on Monday.

The school - provisionally named St John’s School - would house more than 400 children. The cost of the land, and the project, has not yet been revealed.

The hospital, which is owned by South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, closed last autumn when NHS Richmond elected to switch the purchasing of mental health care to a cheaper, non-NHS supplier.

Vince Cable, MP for Twickenham, opposed the closure of the Strafford Road hospital and called for it to be used for healthcare purposes but said the latest plan was a good idea.

He said the main issue concerning the hospital - where the patients would go - had been resolved as NHS Richmond is to open a home in Sandy Lane, Teddington, this year.

Dr Cable said: “I’m positive about the idea of using it for community purposes rather than private purposes.

“The idea of use as a community school has a lot to commend it.

“It would help to alleviate the particular problem that exists in central and east Twickenham of school places.

“It is very, very serious and we have this crisis every year with large numbers of families who can’t get their children into local schools.

“This would probably be quite an efficient way to provide a permanent solution.”

South West London Health Partnerships (SWLHP) has been exploring what to do with the site and divided it into three - one part for care accommodation, one for a health centre and the last for housing.

The mental health trust entered negotiations to sell the freehold of the part initially earmarked for care accommodation, a 0.92 acre piece of land, to Richmond Council.

The fee for the land would come out of existing primary school expansion budgets.

A council spokesman said the purchase would only be complete if conditions - including planning permission for its proposed development for school use - were agreed. It is hoped the new school would open by September 2012.

Councillor Malcolm Eady, cabinet member for children’s services and culture, said: “There is a high demand for primary school places in the East Twickenham and St Margarets area which has caused concern among parents for a number of years.”

A mental health trust spokeswoman said it had agreed the conditional sale of part of the site. She added no date had been set for the completion of the sale.

• What do you think of the plans? Let us know by emailing cwickham@london.newsquest.co.uk, phone the newsdesk on 020 8744 4264 or leave a comment below.

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