Letter: Amber Valley Lib Dems open letter Linsey Farnsworth MP over Heanor Grammar

​​​​I’m sure you will be aware of the feelings of a lot of Heanor residents over the decision taken by the Labour controlled cabinet at Amber Valley Borough Council (AVBC) to renege on the plans to keep the Heanor Grammar project following its completion for local businesses and the wider community as per the funding agreed by central government from the ‘Future High Streets Fund’. The decision instead to lease the Grammar to Derbyshire County Council (DCC) I would describe as a ‘betrayal of Heanor residents’.

I’m sure you will be keenly aware that you referenced this project and it’s stated aims at the time that the building was to be "restored and repurposed as a shared use facility, including space for business, training and community uses" in your maiden speech in the House of Commons stating:

“After my Mum died and the pits closed, my Dad was out of work. The Labour Government gave him the opportunity to retrain as a bricklayer. He attended what was then South East Derbyshire College in Heanor, in a beautiful Victorian building. Long since closed and left derelict, it is now being refurbished and will house small businesses and provide community space. Together with the newly renovated marketplace, the Labour-controlled borough council is ensuring that Heanor town centre will be a welcoming place for residents to visit, while boosting our local economy.”

You must be mortified to find the Cllrs from your own party have now changed their decision on this vital ‘boost to our local economy’ to use your words, making your speech in the house now clearly inaccurate.

I call on you to:

• Condemn the decision taken behind closed doors by the AVBC Leader & Cabinet to rob the Heanor community of this local economy boosting project.
• That leasing of the building to DCC will instead create nothing more than a council ‘cubicle farm’ not a vibrant community and business hub like you described in your speech and like I and my fellow Heanor residents were promised.
• That you support and understand that many Heanor residents are rightly outraged by this decision.
• Use all the power you have within the Labour party to get the Leader & Cabinet of AVBC to reverse their decisions regarding this change of use for the renovated Grammar school.
• As a member of the government please can you see that the relevant Ministry in Westminster makes public if this decision regarding the change of use has been discussed with them, and if so, what was said / advised.
• Give your public comment on how you believe the new funding / leasing arrangement would change if both AVBC and DCC are abolished into a new single tier Unitary Authority as is currently proposed by your government. How would the ‘stable rental income’ claimed by the local Labour Party materialise if the Grammar is owned AND used by this new Unitary Authority?
• Join my calls to Cllr Chris Emmas-Williams to apologise publicly to the residents of Heanor who have had their trust broken and their wishes ignored.

Please do all you can to see this decision reversed and the Grammar project is used as it was intended, a decision I’m sure many Heanor residents would applaud.

Barry Holliday

Chair of Amber Valley Liberal Democrats

Heanor Resident