Forum Topic

The William Hogarth School site

I was trying to recall what the council was proposing to do with the William Hogarth School (then Hogarth School) site when it was proposing to close it back in 2001. I know there was a suggestion of merging with St. Mary's but was that the only option or was the sale of the site being considered as well?Looking at the numbers in the report on the front page, if there is a plan to close the school, it doesn't appear to be based on educational consideration but looks like it is driven by politics or development opportunity or a combination of both.

Diane Brown ● 6d5 Comments

That's interesting. Inevitably some parents will be looking at transferring to other schools and next year's intake will be down meaning the council can use falling rolls as a justification for closure.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 1d

I was chatting to a current parent at the school over the weekend about what was going on. Although the headteacher has sent a letter aiming to provide reassurance staff and teachers have paid more attention to what it doesn't say rather than what it does say.The feeling is that the council has been very cunning in the way they have handled this. By disclosing the plans in a party meeting they would have known that they would have been leaked but they retain plausible deniability. Parents are now needing to consider if they should be looking to make a switch to another school in Chiswick before the rush. St. Mary's apparently doesn't have places and there are relatively few elsewhere. This gives parents a dilemma although many seem to be confident that the case for closure is so poor it can be successfully resisted.

Anita Blake ● 1d

David, I am not saying people don't live next to the A4. You may be right about the potential attractions of the William Hogarth building. A change of use to residential of the Victorian part would be challenging but it isn't wrong to imagine that, if done sensitively, it could deliver a very pleasant place to live.The proximity to the A4 is not a barrier to homes being built here but it will put many people off. The B&Q development currently named the London Motorsports Campus, appears to be seeking to address this issue by putting the student accommodation closest to the flyover.This would probably not be an option for the William Hogarth site as the cost of conversion associated with the listing would mean most if not all of the units would need to be for market sale. The council could sweeten the deal by selling the land cheaply or giving it away but, even so, it would be a complicated and costly project.If the reports are correct, and the decision has already been taken to close the school, the council will have a plan for the future use of the building. There is a good chance that this will be to close large parts of the site and leave it vacant.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 3d

Sorry, Jeremy, just look around and you'll see plenty of places to live next to the A4 with new ones being built next to major roadways all the time. All across London.It's one of the things that has always amused me about any LTN/cycling advocacy combined with the housing crisis. It's always been about "my" children as opposed to "the" children. Only recently did a new proposal acknowledge units immediately adjacent to the flyover. I think it was the proposal for the triangle of land by B&Q. Listed buildings combined with a newly landscaped private garden would be a very appealing place to live. Plus there was all that chatter about the green wall cleaning up the air so there's that as well.

David Lesniak ● 3d

It's a long time ago but I don't think there was ever a proposal for the site to be sold. If memory serves the council approached St. Mary's about a merger but that never happened due to pushback from parents at the school and from those outside who didn't want a larger religious school.The older buildings at the site are listed and its position next to the A4 would reduce its attraction as a place to live so it may not be easy to convert the site to residential use. Any closure would be politically rather than financially driven. Labour suffered surprise losses in the Heston area, where the primary school place surplus appears to be greatest, so they couldn't propose closing a school there as a single defection could lose them their majority.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 3d