Members of the South Downs national park authority are to be given emergency diversity training after pupils at a controversial new state boarding school were described as “urban children” who would “not be the slightest bit interested in the countryside”. A formal investigation has been launched about a possible breach of the members’ code of conduct after the school lodged an official complaint about the comments, which were made by a councillor during a planning meeting.
The Durand Academy in Stockwell, south London, opened its boarding school in West Sussex last September following a prolonged battle over planning consent due to fierce opposition from locals. Fifty children from Durand’s inner-city catchment area now board at the school from Monday to Thursday and travel home at weekends.
In a recording of the planning meeting, councillor Jennifer Gray is heard to say of the proposed school: “I think this is a wonderful idea. But you have to think, these are urban children and urban children to my mind like the towns. They are not going to be suddenly transported in to Sussex and told to love the birds and the bees, because they are whisked away again at weekends.
“I find that when I have had students to stay and they’ve come from towns, they are not the slightest bit interested in the countryside, which is a shame, but that actually is what it’s like.”
Gray, who is also an elected Conservative member of East Hampshire district council, declined to comment.
Durand’s vice chair of governors Kevin Craig, lodging the complaint, wrote to the authority: “This comment was made at a meeting at which I had already been ashamed to witness the pathetic silence that fell on to the room when a black man (one of our team on the day) walked in. To many of those present it made those assembled resemble something out of the Wild West. It was astonishing.
“I am particularly keen to hear your account of what it is that makes urban children so genetically disposed to not liking nature.”
Margaret Paren, chair of the SDNPA, confirmed that members were being offered diversity courses as a result of the complaint, but stressed the authority’s commitment to making the park accessible to diverse groups.
“We have a code of conduct for our members and we are investigating this complaint,” said Paren. “We are also offering further diversity training to all our members. We work with a wide variety of partners, urban and rural, minority ethnic groups, disability groups, urban fringe communities and over 750 schools – including grants to support transport from schools in deprived areas – to make sure that all can enjoy this wonderful place.”
The planning meeting at which the comments made took place in December 2013, when an application by Durand to develop teaching facilities at the existing boarding school at Stedham was refused. Durand lodged an appeal and only launched its formal complaint after withdrawing its appeal last December. It is now planning to resubmit alternative plans.
Paren said officers had worked closely with the Durand Academy on their original application to make sure that the planning committee would see the best possible scheme given the school’s requirements.
“But as a national park, landscape has to be our highest priority and the committee refused the application because the size of the scheme would have too great an impact on the landscape.
“They also had concerns about the application’s failure to mitigate against the impact of the development on transport and other local services – such as fire and rescue.”
A report from the park authority’s standards assessment sub-committee said the complaint regarding Gray’s comments would be referred to the monitoring officer and ordered a formal investigation. “In addition, the sub-committee considered it timely for further diversity training to be delivered to all members of the authority and requesting the monitoring officer to arrange such training on the basis of a short session to be delivered at the next appropriate opportunity and a more extensive training session to be delivered following the May elections.”
Craig said the 50 children on site at the boarding school were having a wonderful experience. “They are getting on fabulously. There has not been a single issue. Would we have had these problems if we were not Durand, from Lambeth, if we were an offshoot from Eton, with a different demographic? We want people to think about that.”
