Shortly before Christmas, Richard joined with his Bedfordshire colleague Blake Stephenson MP in writing to the Education Minister to raise their concerns over the Government's decision to review the planned new free school in Bedford.
Richard Fuller MP said:
Just 84.4% of pupils in Bedford Borough receive an offer from their first choice secondary school according to the most recent data so Blake and I are deeply concerned by the Government's decision to review the planned new free school in Bedford.
There is already intense pressure on secondary school places in Bedford Borough, a situation that will only be exacerbated by Labour's Education Tax on independent schools which the OBR report, at the time of the budget, estimated could lead to 276 extra places being required in the local state education sector. This new free school school is vital to relieve the pressure and provide much needed additional school places.
It is particularly egregious that neither Blake Stephenson MP nor myself were informed of this until almost 2 months after the Labour MP for Bedford was notified. Irrespective of which constituency the school would be physically located, the student base would be drawn from many surrounding villages and so is as much an issue for North and Mid Bedfordshire as it is for Bedford and Kempston
