The Livity School is a special needs school in Brixton Hill.  The school serves children with severe disabilities, but the building is no longer appropriate for providing the best possible care.  Corridors are too narrow for children using wheelchairs and special equipment, the hydrotherapy pool is too small, and much of the infrastructure is crumbling away.  The school needs to be rebuilt.  With the Lib Dems and Tories in charge at the town hall, the school received little support.  The head teacher and governors put together their own bid for funding to improve the school and submitted it to the Government.  To their joy, the Government approved the bid for £4m – but only if the Council contributed £1m too. 

The school community was distraught when the Council refused.  I’m the local councillor, and I joined the campaign to persuade the Council to change their minds.  In 2006, after leading Labour to a landslide victory in Lambeth, I ensured that funding for the new Livity School was immediately found.  The head teacher and school governors are now working with council officers to agree plans for a rebuilt school with facilities that meet the needs of the special young people the school cares for.