Boris forces sale of Southwark Fire Station for free school

We reported in January on plans to turn part of the former fire station and fire brigade training centre into a secondary school.

Now the Mayor has instructed the fire authority to accept a bid from Wiltshire-based developer Hadston which includes the provision of a 1,100-place secondary school.

He has also agreed to provide extra funding to LFEPA in case the sale is the subject of legal challenge by other bidders.

As well as a secondary school, the Hadston scheme will also include an as-yet-unknown number of homes.

Hadston is run by entrepreneurs Jeffrey Thomas and Jeremy Sanders and describes itself as a developer with a "community bias" that specialises in projects such as schools, housing, research facilities and data centres.

The identity of the educational organisation behind the proposal for a new school has been a closely-guarded secret and has still not been revealed.

Meanwhile a group called SE1 Parents has launched a campaign to have the school set up as a grass-roots parent-backed initiative.

Details of their campaign are at http://newse1school.org

The group told us today: "We are very pleased to see this beautiful public building remain, in part, a public building and are glad that short term financial gain has not overshadowed pressing public need for a local secondary school.

"We look forward to engaging with the developers with regard to an appropriate school provider."

Documents published on Friday by City Hall also offer a clue as to the future of the London Fire Brigade Museum: "Hadston also proposes to retain a museum on the former fire station site," says the GLA report on the sale.