A WOKINGHAM Borough councillor has apologised after he was accused of singling out arrivals from Hong Kong for criticism on oversubscribed school places.
At a community and corporate overview and scrutiny meeting in November last year, Cllr Gregor Murray, Conservative councillor for Norreys, put forward a “practical suggestion” to the council.
He said: “As we know that a lot of our issues within schools and within home-to-school transport are being caused by people coming into the borough mid-year.
“Can I suggest that you speak to all of the estate agents locally and tell them about the pressures within our school systems so that when people are coming from Hong Kong and other areas looking to buy houses they can be told ‘by the way, there aint no space in Year 7. If you’ve got a kid aged this year, you ain’t getting a place in our schools’”
Cllr Prue Bray, executive member for children’s services, said the council would continue to welcome suggestions as the financing of home-to-school transport was getting “very difficult”.
One resident has written to Wokingham.Today describing Cllr Murray’s suggestion as “arrant nonsense”.
They said: “It doesn’t matter where new arrivals come from; there are houses, and people with children will buy or rent them.
“If the purchasers or renters are not from Hong Kong, then they might be from Ukraine, from France, from London, Reading or Bracknell. Those arrivals will have children too.”
“Lack of logical thinking is the least problematic part of Cllr Murray’s astonishing suggestion.”
The borough has seen new arrivals from Hong Kong come through the Hong Kong UK Welcome Programme.
This route to the UK opened in 2021, and has widened since then, providing those who hold British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) passports, or who have members of their families holding BN(O) passports, with a pathway to citizenship.
The resident doesn’t believe Hong Kong nationals should be “singled out” for special conversations with estate agents.
They added: “Cllr Murray’s suggestion seems to involve asking estate agents to racially profile potential purchasers. Why should apparent recent arrivals from Hong Kong be singled out for special conversations with estate agents? Why should they be told that there are no places for their children in Wokingham schools? What Cllr Murray suggests is against the Equality Act, and therefore unlawful.
“I therefore hope that, in the spirit of good community relations, Cllr Murray will withdraw his suggestion, acknowledge that his suggestion is unlawful, and apologise to Hong Kongers for his unwelcoming attitude.”
Cllr Murray has clarified his point of view, and apologised if his suggestion has been misinterpreted.
He said: “I had no intention of singling out anyone.
“If my words have been interpreted in that way then I wholeheartedly apologise for any offence I may have caused.
“Houses in Wokingham are expensive, the schools in our community are excellent and in many cases oversubscribed.
“My suggestion was to give all potential house buyers vital information, such as the accessibility of school places locally, before several hundred thousand pounds is spent, rather than the new buyer only finding out after they have moved in.
“For anyone moving into our borough with young children I would see that as useful information to have, especially if moving from several thousand miles away.”
