THE controversial planning application for new buildings for Warrington’s first Free School are to come before borough planners for a second time.
Members of the borough council’s development management committee will be asked to rule on the proposals for new buildings for the King’s Leadership Academy on land off Hillock Lane, Woolston on Thursday (June 20).
They have deferred a decision once to allow time for a site inspection.
The plan is for a new 840-place school for the Free School, which is currently operating from temporary classrooms at the former Longbarn Primary School.
It is opposed by Woolston Parish Council, a number of borough councillors and 23 members of the public.
Support for the school has come from 78 people who claim there is great demand for a high quality secondary school in the area – and that it will make Woolston a more desirable place to live.
The two-storey building is planned for the southern end of Woolston Park, to the north of Hillock Lane.
It would become the permanent home of the Kings Leadership Academy which, when it opened last year, had 38 pupils.
In addition to classrooms, a school hall, staff rooms, offices and meeting rooms, the new school building would have a library, gymnasium, artificial grass sports pitch, four curt sports hall, football pitch, and three junior sports pitches.
The plan is for the school to open for a longer day than other local schools – from 8.20am to 4.30pm – so as not to clash with the drop-off and pick-up times of the other schools.
Opponents of the development fear traffic and parking problems, loss of open space and playing fields, noise and disturbance, loss of privacy, wildlife habitats, etc.
Cllr Colin Froggatt (pictured), the borough’s lead member for education, has expressed concern about the likely number of surplus secondary school places in the future.
There are currently 672 unfilled places at high schools across Warrington, he says.
If the Free School goes ahead with its planned number of places, the number of unfilled places in the borough will rise to 1,015, he says.
But the most outspoken opposition has come from borough councillor the Rev Steve Parish who said: “It is a waste of public money to build a new high school in an area where, self-evidently, the number of pupils cannot sustain a high school without abstracting pupils from other high schools.
“The documentation from the applicant indicates a very limited catchment area, but also, in the transport plan, a diagram suggesting a wider ‘cycle catchment plan’ that extends to include four other high schools in east Warrington.
“It is absolutely immoral for the Department for Education to be willing to fund a new and unnecessary school on ideological grounds but to delay provision of an urgently-needed new building for another school – one that largely serves areas of deprivation in inner Warrington.”
The proposed new school would aim to take on 120 pupils aged 11-18 each year and would have 64 teachers and 32 non-teaching staff members.
Planners to rule on Free School
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
6 Comments
I love how they fail to mention the fact that 2013 Sept intake is already full. The facts there speak for themselevs. The community deserves a choice whwre to send their children – and this proves it. Its not our fault if we choose King’s over other schools – surely that says something about them?
We fought to save Woolston high School from closure and after mountains of petitions and public outrage the council still decided to close the School.
This led to parents, whose first choice was Woolston High School, having to send their children to Schools outside of the area, there was then an increase in busses passing through Woolston to take the children to their schools, no doubt there was also an increase in general traffic with those parents opting to take their children themselves.
We therefore think that the new School, Kings Leadership Academy, is a fantastic opportunity, not only for the local community but the wider community as well.
The new School will bring new facilities to the area which will be for public use as well, therefore putting the heart back into the community.
Most of the good Schools in Warrington are packed to the brim with children, any reduction in those numbers , with parents opting to send their children to Kings, will mean slightly smaller class sizes which will actually improve the education of the children.
So well done Kings Leadership Academy for stepping up to the mark and providing facilities and excellent teachers for our community.
well said ,its about time someone spoke up for Woolston ,
Woolston without a High school is immoral and unjust
WBC should have planned better and looked at all the options they had available rather than just the quick win .
WBC also looked at plans to put a joint school on this park but then pushed the money to Culcheth High, the funny thing is that this is now an academy.
Not sure that all the facts are correct in the article though.
A few things:
– Woolston High was closed partly because there weren’t enough kids in Woolston to fill a high school and that hasn’t changed
– choice doesn’t mean you can have what you want regardless of the cost to the public purse and stick two fingers up to everyone else
– parents in Woolston already have a choice, like everyone else in town they can pick from all the high schools in Warrington
– Culcheth isn’t an academy
Anyone calling for this school is simply selfish and deluded. I would love a high school for my kids in my area but I know it will never happen and I aren’t going to use this government’s nonsense policies to try and get one!
“any reduction in those numbers , with parents opting to send their children to Kings, will mean slightly smaller class sizes which will actually improve the education of the children”. I’m afraid that just shows the problem is not understood. It will not mean reduced class sizes. Fewer pupils elsewhere means making teachers redundant at those schools.