We joined Prospective MP Tim Barnes and Pimlico Councillor Jim Glen at the Tresham South Centre in Pimlico, which opened on 28 May. Tim took the decision to open the centre when he was Cabinet Member for Young People and Learning on Westminster City Council. You can watch their discussion about what it means for young people with disabilities, and their families, in the south of Westminster.
Cllr Jim Glen started the conversation.
"So, Tim, we're here in South Pimlico.
"We're here because of the new special educational needs school provision which has opened recently."
Tim Barnes replied,
"It has. It's really exciting. We have two activities that are taking place on this site. And it came about because some of the changes that you as local councillors were really championing a couple of years ago to save this site for educational use."
Jim provided some context before Tim explained his involvement with the project whilst serving as Cabinet Member for Young People and Learning at the Council.
"Westminster Cathedral School closed because of dropping in primary school numbers, but merged with St Vincent de Paul leaving this site that we were very keen to see stay in educational use and we also had parents telling us that for respite care you had to travel to the north of the borough, which, when you've got a very high needs special educational needs child is a long way to go."
"It is indeed. When I was the Cabinet Member for Young People and Learning on Westminster City Council, this was one of the decisions that I took to try and increase the level of SEND provision and support for everybody in the south of Westminster and across the Westminster part of Cities of London and Westminster constituency.
"And the Short Breaks Service means that there's a support infrastructure really for some of the parents and carers who have kids that might need a little bit of taking care of and a little bit of something different, out-of-hours, weekends and particularly during term times and then longer breaks eventually over the summer.
"So in the same way that the Tresham Centre has for a long time supported young people across Westminster, we now have that kind of care and cover in the south as well."
Jim and Tim then discussed the timeframe for big investment projects like this and how this project has taken four years to complete.
"It's great to have services down here and even better, co-located on the site, there is a new special educational needs school, College Park, which covers from 5 to 18, and that was also recently just opened on this site. I mean, what, three or four years of work to get there?
"And I think that's an important point. Many of the decisions that we took, a few years ago are only now really coming into being, but it is a meaningful additional level of support for, for many of the parents and families that we have.
"And with the very rapid rise of SEND numbers across our school system, it will be very welcome now and hopefully part of core infrastructure for years to come."
Find out more about Prospective MP TIm Barnes's plan for the Two Cities on his website and more about Cllr Jim Glen on the Conservative Councillors website.
