Sir, – Many residents of Eaglescliffe have received a letter from their MP, Dari Taylor, extolling the virtues of rebuilding Egglescliffe School in Preston Park.

This suggestion was first made public by councillors for Ingleby Barwick who are rightly concerned at the lack of secondary school places in that part of the borough.

Mrs Taylor has taken up the cause with apparent enthusiasm which has blinded her to a number of facts: Building Schools for the Future is not focused on relocating Egglescliffe School, but on rebuilding it in order to provide a building which matches the education available at that school.

The current plan is to relocate the school onto the playing fields at Allens West.

Mrs Taylor states: “the majority of pupils will have to cross an increasingly busy railway line”.

This displays her ignorance of the site. The only pupils who will cross the railway line are those who cross it now to reach the present site. These are the pupils who live on the Kingsmead estate and in rural areas to the North.

She describes 300 pupils from Ingleby Barwick as essential to the viability of Egglescliffe school, but the present proposals envisage only 150 pupils from Ingleby Barwick as there will be a corresponding increase in size of All Saints’ School at Ingleby Barwick.

The Liberal Democrat councillors elected to represent the people of Eaglescliffe have carried out our own surveys of local residents and found a large majority of them strongly oppose the idea of building in Preston Park.

These are the people who know Eaglescliffe, live in Eaglescliffe, appreciate and use both the park and the school.

They know that Dari Taylor does not know Eaglescliffe, nor the park nor the school, or she could never have written such a letter. No doubt they will show their disapproval when the general election comes.

Coun MAUREEN RIGG Liberal Democrat member for Eaglescliffe Ward