Editor:
As a Surrey resident, I am tired of city council approving more and more residential development, then repeatedly joining the Surrey school board in blaming the province for a lack of school infrastructure.
Insanity is repeating the same actions over and over and expecting a different result. Surrey needs to stop the insanity and change the dynamic between province and city.
Surrey’s municipal government has some control here – they determine what development proceeds in the city. Experience shows clearly that more residential development approvals mean more children requiring more schools.
Surrey’s leverage with the province centres on development: What would happen if Surrey started to reject residential-development applications in areas with no school space to accommodate new students, clearly stating this as the reason?
Developers, construction workers and would-be Surrey residents would start to put pressure on the provincial government to provide sufficient funding for new schools and the expansion of existing schools. Other cities would be in the same situation as Surrey and add their weight to the call for proper funding.
A. McDowall, Surrey