Two Pinner school set to merge

Controversial plans to merge two Pinner schools will go ahead in January - despite an adjudicator finding errors with the process.

The amalgamation of West Lodge First and Middle Schools has long been the centre of dispute in Pinner and the process has dragged on for more than three years.

And even though a decision has finally been made, Harrow Council was forced to admit its proposals had been inaccurate.

A report presented to cabinet on Monday said: "The local authority's amalgamation policy was misleading, in that it led Governing Bodies to believe they made final decisions on amalgamation. This has led to a set of false expectations."

The council was also forced to uphold 22 complaints from objectors, who protested about the way in which the whole process was dealt with.

However, the report also recommended that the decision went ahead because the majority of the parties were in favour of the merge.

Councillor Christine Bednell (Conservative), responsible for children's services, was delighted at the decision to merge and defended the council's initial programme.

She said: "The proposal has attracted huge interest among the school community, and I am very aware of the strong and diverse views that have been expressed over the months.

"There is now the opportunity for a new start to be made. I believe the council has learned the necessary lessons from the processes."

From the start, the proposals were met with strong opposition by some middle school governors and parents, who were concerned the merge would compromise standards at the school.

But the council received a 301-parent petition in favour of the merge and of the 87 individual stakeholder responses, 70 also supported the plans.

Mediation has been offered to help rebuild relationships between the warring governing bodies, but the complainants could still take the decision to judicial review.