Councillors slam long delays in repairing burst water mains at London School

1.49.10pm GMT Fri 22nd Jun 2007

Councillor Wayne Hoban, Liberal Democrat member for Alexandra ward, has criticised local agencies for allowing a burst water main at a local school to remain broken. The water main burst at Alexandra Park School on 12th June 2007 but was allowed to continue flowing for several days whilst Thames Water, the Fire Service and Jarvis, the PFI maintenance contractor to the school, argued over whose responsibility it was to undertake the repair. It has been revealed that the leak originated when a water main was broken when the Fire Brigade drove over the kerb when they went down the side road to tackle the fire at Muswell Hill Golf Club.

Cllr Wayne Hoban (Alexandra Ward) comments:

"Surely the primary responsibility was to repair the leak immediately to ensure that disruption to the school was kept to a minimum and also to prevent thousands of gallons of precious water from being wasted. I am extremely concerned that essential public agencies could not see the logic of undertaking this repair immediately and sorting out ultimate responsibility later."

Cllr Gail Engert, Lib Dem Spokesperson for Children and Young People adds:

"This situation illustrates the complications that arise when a school is locked into a maintenance contract with a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) provider and is unable to deal with the problem directly. This is very unsatisfactory, given the huge inconvenience caused."