Much of the last month has been focused on dealing with Harlow College and the future of the Square. 

Following my intervention back in June, the Learning and Skills Council has requested that the College produce an Action Plan setting out how they are to manage the problems at the College in the coming months. Two new governors are to be appointed to the College Corporation and a former Principal is to be brought in as an adviser to the senior management team. At my urging, the College and the UCU trade union are also at independent arbitration at ACAS.

Week in week out I’m in regular contact with the College, the LSC, and the trade unions, keeping in touch about the progress that is being made. Despite the upheavals of the last six months the A Level results were good but I feel for any student who hasn’t done as well as they would have liked or expected.

On a daily basis I’m getting dozens of e-mails and letters from constituents setting out their individual concerns about the College. Part of the problem throughout the dispute has been the poor level of communication from the College with staff, parents and students. Throughout the summer my office has in effect become a communications hub for the community, getting as many answers as possible from the College and the LSC and relaying the information back to constituents, some of it on an individual basis, some of it through round-robin communications.

Over the last month I’ve also met several times with representatives of “SquareOne”, a group of users who have put together a proposal to keep The Square music venue going. In March I and Labour’s County Councillors persuaded the Tory decision maker at Essex, Cllr Tracey Chapman, to agree a six month review period to see if we could get an alternative proposal on the table to keep the Square going. We have a proposal all ready and are due to meet Cllr Chapman at the end of September.

But then to our astonishment we learn that, following a nod and a wink from the Tories who have apparently said they have no interest in the future of the facility, Circle Anglia have implemented their one year break clause on the lease for the Square which means the venue will have to be vacated by August 2008. I immediately call emergency meetings with Essex County Council Youth Service and Circle Anglia to try and get to the bottom of what’s happened.

Following further discussions with Square One we agree a new set of proposals to go to the County Council and Circle Anglia. Without their agreement to these demands the business plan won’t be viable. To give us the best chance of success we launch an accompanying community campaign to “Save The Square”. We’ve been inundated with offers of support from people who use the Square and community groups who are simply appalled that a great facility for young people in the town faces the prospect of closure. So the “Make Harlow Count: Save The Square” petition is launched and within just a couple of days I’m getting petition sheets with dozens of signatures on them delivered back to my office. I’ll be collecting these together and taking them to my meeting with Cllr Chapman at the end of this month.