Sponsored by
School caught in council row
The Iqra Academy wants to put on an exhibition celebrating Pakistani culture. Photo: Rowland Hobson/Peterborough ET
A SCHOOL which wants money for a cultural exhibition is at the centre of a debate over how councillors spend cash in their area.
Each Peterborough City Council ward is given a £10,000 Community Leadership Fund (CLF) each year to spend on projects that benefit constituents.
How the money is spent must be decided by all the councillors in that area, or else the council leader has to intervene.
The Iqra Academy, a girl’s school with an Islamic ethos in North Bretton, wants to put on an exhibition promoting Pakistani culture in Peterborough Museum.
Despite neither location being in his Ravensthorpe patch, Cllr Gul Nawaz wants to give £1,500 from his CLF to the exhibition, because roughly one-third of the school’s pupils are from the ward.
However, his fellow Ravensthorpe councillor Ed Murphy is firmly against the idea and thinks the money should be kept for things that are more clearly in the ward.
They have been arguing about the allocation since October and the Iqra Academy claims its plans are being affected because staff do not know if they will get the money or not.
Javed Akhtar, chairman of the Peterborough Muslim Education Trust, said: “We feel it is a game of politics, but one that is affecting a school.
“The girls will put on displays to talk about Pakistani heritage and that would benefit the whole of the community.
“We get between a quarter and a third of our pupils from Ravensthorpe and Cllr Nawaz has been very interested in doing what he can to help those children.
“We went to give a presentation to Cllr Ed Murphy but he didn’t seem interested in it.”
Cllr Murphy admitted that he would have given half the requested £1,500 to the scheme if Cllr Nawaz met with him to discuss it.
He said: “To be honest, I would have gone half if he had talked to me about it, but he won’t and I don’t want to hand over public money for something I do not know everything about.
“I feel sympathy for the Iqra Academy, but ultimately it is unfortunate that applicants have been led up the garden path by Cllr Nawaz.
“When you are dealing with public money, checks need to be made and serious consideration has to be given.”
Cllr Nawaz said: “I am not going to make any comment at this stage.
“But if the CLF for the Iqra Academy can go through I would be very grateful.
“The CLF is for the community and not for politics, and I would rather see it spent on the people I represent.”
If the stalemate is not resolved a decision on the allocation will be made by city council leader Cllr Marco Cereste.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Peterborough
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
