Workington MP, Mark Jenkinson has blasted the education authority after more than 50 children have been denied a place at Workington’s only secular secondary school.

The MP for Workington has written to Martin Birch, Director of Children and Family Wellbeing, urging him to rectify this ‘travesty’ as soon as possible and has criticised the council for its failure to heed earlier warnings.

The Workington MP said: “That we have arrived at this point is as deeply regrettable as it was avoidable.

“Section 14 of the Education Act 1996 places on Cumberland Council a duty to secure sufficient secondary school places, and to make sure that there is diversity of provision and of choice for parents.

“I have been warning successive education authorities about this for more than four years, yet Cumberland Council, and its predecessor Cumbria County Council, have actively blocked investment.

“While the provision of places, and the funding of them, is a matter for the council they have been offered a number of ‘easy wins’ that they’ve declined to take.

“The council could have and should have created new school places in Workington Academy by securing the additional funding for new developments using Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Instead, they’ve let developers off the hook.

“They cannot say weren’t warned. Unfortunately, my well-intentioned warnings went unanswered and unheeded – but those chickens are now coming home to roost – and the council is failing our children.

“I am a staunch defender of the faith school model. However, there is no way that that the council would countenance having the only available places in a Jewish or Islamic school.

“School choice includes the inalienable right of a parent to choose a school close to their community that is not of religious character.

“I’m increasingly concerned at the proselytisation in which the council seems actively engaged.

“Faith schools already have an advantage by virtue of the fact that the council must provide subsidised transport to school for children of a particular faith living more than two miles away, but who choose to attend the schools by virtue of their religious character.

“This is not an option available to parents of a different faith, or no faith at all, who choose to send their children to a faith school.”

Mark Jenkinson has been telling the council and its predecessor that their schools’ capacity modelling was “flawed” since 2021.

He had also advised them time and time again that they had duty to secure education contributions from developers through the planning process. 

Previously, he pressed councils to insist on Section 106 agreements as a condition for the building of new housing estates to help ensure that that infrastructure, including new classrooms, kept pace and that developments were sustainable. 

The MP’s most recent call to action comes after it has emerged that 56 children who named Workington Academy as their first choice have not been awarded a place. 

The Workington MP continues to receive complaints from parents who have been given the devastating news that their child has missed out.

He is pointing constituents to the council’s appeals process and has also pledged to make separate representations on behalf of all those who get in touch.

A Council spokesperson said: “We understand parents’ frustration. We would like to meet parental demand for places in specific schools but this is, unfortunately not always possible.

“The legislation around school places requires that sufficient places are available to pupils within an agreed planning area.

“This is determined by reviewing how pupils currently access schools across a planning area and is regularly reviewed to ensure it meets changing demands.

“Over 99 percent of Cumberland pupils who applied on time have been offered one of their preference schools. 

“If parents are unhappy with the allocated school they have the right to submit an appeal for a place at their school of preference.”