Go-ahead for super new school

TOWN Hall planning chiefs at Warrington have given the go-ahead for an innovative new school to replace one of the oldest and most outdated primary school buildings in the borough.
But the scheme to provide a new Great Sankey Primary School will also respect the old school’s history – retaining a locally “listed Victorian school building.
The rest of the old school will be demolished while the new school will occupy an adjoining site currently used as a rugby pitch and wooded area by the nearby Penketh High School.
Members of the borough council’s development management committee approved the proposals after hearing that the existing school is acknowledged to be inadequate, of poor quality and outdated design and with maintenance problems.
The new school will be built alongside the old because relocation during construction work would have been prohibitively expensive.
The old Victorian building to be retained will be sold or leased off for alternative use.
Nearby residents opposed the proposals because of fears of increased parking on Liverpool Road, loss of woodland and damage to wildlife.
But officers said some increase in parking on a reasonable quiet section of Liverpool Road would acceptable. The school itself will have 27 parking spaces.
A multi-use games area will be provided on the primary school site to replace the high school’s rugby pitch and there will indoor sports facilities, refurbished cricket practice nets and an off-site cricket facility. Sport England say they are happy with the proposed playing field provision.