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To: Secretary of State for Education, Hackney Council, Hackney Learning Trust

Playgrounds Not For Sale! Let's save Shoreditch Park Primary School Playground

Please, do not change the use of Shoreditch Park Primary School land.
We must save the School Playground with a football pitch.

We are against selling off the School Playground to build 481 flats and Early Years Centre, as the School has already had a good Nursery and Reception class facilities.

Our kids, who are current and future pupils of our outstanding School, should not be the victims of the growing demand for housing, paying with their health, development, privacy and childhood.

Why is this important?

Hackney Council is redeveloping the Britannia Leisure Centre site and takes land from the Shoreditch Park Primary School to build a 16 storey tower block and five-storey block as a part of the development of 481 new flats remunerating the School with 2 million pounds and Early Years Centre that is not the most desirable thing for a School and will require drastic growth of the School budget.

As key stakeholders of this project, we have three main arguments against it:

(1) the pressure on social infrastructure, services and transport in our area will grow significantly because of the enlargement to our local community on thousands of people from 481 new apartments;

(2) our kids will suffer from constant stress at their outstanding School 5-days a week. During almost three years, hundreds of kids will spend 30% of their time next to a huge construction site. They will hear the noise of the machinery, breathe polluted air and get an everyday dose of dust.

(3) respecting the residential property prices in London and our local area, we understand that the commercial benefits of this project are much more impressive than announced to the public. 400 apartments (out of 481) will be sold commercially. That is why the price tag of 2 million pounds is not a fair assessment of the deal.

Do you know that...

- A 2007 Danish study showed that fresh air ventilation rates are linked to pupil performance. In a study of 2,111 Spanish schoolchildren, time spent in (not near) green spaces reduced behavioural and emotional problems, reducing hyperactivity and improving ADHD scores. A six-year American study on 905 Massachusetts elementary schools found pupils in schools with more ‘greenness’ scored higher in standardised tests.

- According to Tall Building Study 2018 by London Borough of Islington, "...tall buildings usually overshadow and overlook their immediate surroundings. Furthermore, wind funnelling, shadow patterns and sunlight reflection can create disturbing features and have a negative impact on the local microclimate."

- As stated by The Guardian, Hackney has faced one of the biggest house price changes of the century - 339.0%. From £143,000 in November 1999 to £627,924 in November 2019.
A simple multiplication of 481 flats x £627,924 is £302 031,444

Our hashtag is #saveSPPSplayground. Our deadline was February 20, 2020. However, since our case will be considered by Secretary of State for Education for the next 28 days, we will continue our campaign.

As genuine optimists, we believe that we can save the Shoreditch Park Primary School playground.
It's worth trying.

About Shoreditch Park Primary School
Shoreditch Park Primary School is a two-form entry outstanding primary school in Hackney, maintained by the local authority. The School has 408 pupils, aged 3 - 11. The large majority of pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds. Many are disadvantaged.

About Parents Community of Shoreditch Park Primary School
We are a united team of parents and carers of pupils who attend Shoreditch Park Primary School. Our community has hundreds of members with a core team of 13 volunteers.

How it will be delivered

Our Community is ready to deliver our signatures in person, via email or using any other relevant channel. The main point - our voices must be heard.

Hackney, London

Maps © Stamen; Data © OSM and contributors, ODbL

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Updates

2020-04-29 15:59:49 +0100

We have sent the third letter with objections against building residential property by Hackney Council at the Shoreditch Park Primary School Playground: https://bit.ly/2SfSZgj

2020-04-23 14:58:35 +0100

Today we sent Freedom of Information Request regarding investments made by Hackney Council as a contribution for disposal of the land at Shoreditch Park Primary School. We need to know the precise facts and numbers. Details are here: https://bit.ly/2xRY0Vy

2020-04-06 14:21:27 +0100

Our Parents Community of Shoreditch Park Primary School would like to thank Mr Timothy Corner, QC at Landmark Chambers, for pro bono advice. We deeply appreciate your time and knowledge shared with us, Mr Corner!

2020-03-18 13:38:19 +0000

Our latest press release with a stockpile of knowledge about #saveSPPSplayground is here: http://bit.ly/33pPp7Y

2020-03-10 14:35:20 +0000

Oops... we did it again :). We contacted the Department for Education.
Today we sent an additional letter to the Secretary of State for Education with new arguments to save our lovely playground at Shoreditch Park Primary School.
Please, enjoy reading this letter here:

http://bit.ly/3cLzVPR

2020-02-28 13:10:55 +0000

Today we have sent a letter to the Mayor of Hackney.
By the way, yesterday we have a hot discussion with Mr Glanville on Twitter. Hence, we decided to make our plans official and transparent and prepared this letter to him: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y_O_9uUrTaXABR8d4H2f1PzpSFuC22lT/view?usp=sharing

2020-02-24 12:29:19 +0000

We have already sent our appeal to the Secretary of State for Education. Hence, now we are waiting for the final decision by him. If you are curious about our main objections - here you can find all of them: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-oJwOiW59tCUvjIlh5qxES9HukKX73XH8xWOZEYzxzw/edit

2020-02-20 08:25:05 +0000

One of our brightest supporters, Pat Turnbull, published a letter about the ongoing consultation to save Shoreditch Park Primary School playground in Hackney Gazette. Please read page 11: http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=ed64b25d-09b2-4e58-8107-641176c6ab64

Thank you, Pat!

2020-02-20 08:15:12 +0000

News about our campaign was featured in East London Lines: https://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2020/02/multi-billion-pound-redevelopment-of-the-britannia-leisure-centre-at-risk/

2020-02-14 14:53:18 +0000

We would like to thank you Hackney Gazette for spreading a word about our #saveSPPSplayground campaign:
https://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/education/shoreditch-park-parents-launch-petition-against-playground-flats-1-6514813

2020-02-13 07:02:02 +0000

500 signatures reached

2020-02-12 14:27:43 +0000

Today we sent a letter to Ambitious About Autism, a national charity for children and young people with autism. As you know, our outstanding School has Autism Resource Provision with 10 pupils, attending it.
A massive construction site and future buildings will violate their rights to get appropriate education in a learning support environment too.

That is why we need to stand for them as well.

2020-02-08 19:36:25 +0000

We have decided not to wait till Monday and sent our letter to the Department for Education today, on this lovely Saturday evening.
Are you curious about the content of our letter? We have a transparent policy regarding publication of the letters, which do not contain any confidential information. Hence, you can read our letter here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1q93Tl8UnQH8TCQ9ocRtRKPypvQuvk8Rn

2020-02-07 15:09:00 +0000

We continue to spread a word about our #saveSPPSplayground campaign and today we send our letters to Sport England and Education and Skills Funding Agency.

And thank you, our dearest supporters, you are amazing; we've reached a milestone of 300 signatures and now have a new goal ahead.

2020-02-06 15:03:48 +0000

Today we sent our letters to Cllr Kam Adams, Cllr Feryal Clark and Cllr Steve Race who are the representatives of Hoxton East and Shoreditch. We would like to let them know about our actions.

The more people know about our #saveSPPSplayground campaign - the better quality of public dialogue we will get.