Having had a break from the forum for a while, I was interested to drop in (well it's too wet to walk the dog!), and read this lively thread. Most points of view seem to be well represented, although I do strongly agree with Harry, who seems to be a bit of a lone voice:
I understand that the Hibbert Lane site needs a lot of money spending on it in order to bring it up to current standards. This I can fully understand after having been in there a few years back. It makes good sense to to dispose of the old building and create a new, state of the art, learning centre that would be more conducive to education.
Both of the college buildings, inherited from Marple Ridge School, are leftovers from the worst period of school building, in the mid-twentieth century. The College has done its best with its limited means to improve them, but honestly the best thing they could do is just to knock them both down and build a really good, up-to-date, energy-efficient purpose-built college which we could all be proud of and which our kids would queue up to attend, instead of getting on the bus to Aquinas.
Unfortunately, we live in straightened times, just in case anyone hasn't noticed, and I doubt whether there are any significant capital funds available from the Skills Funding Agency at the moment. (Aquinas got under the wire in the nick of time, just before the demise of the late and unlamented Learning and Skills Council). So selling off the Hibbert Lane site for 12 million would probably do the job.
One final and unrelated point, for Miss Marple: there is no need to panic about this: the wheels of the planning process, and of college governance, grind exceedingly slowly. The Business Forum will no doubt consider the matter in September and there is no reason to rush that through in August. Better to have all members present and come to a proper and considered consensus.
