New primary for Oldham under free school plans.

A new primary school is to be opened in Oldham under plans given the green light by the government.

The new educational facility will be built on land which had housed the former North Chadderton Lower School on Broadway.

Currently, the land next to Chadderton Cemetery is empty and ‘surplus’ to the requirements of the council.

In February of this year, the Secretary of State for Education approved plans for a new primary school to proceed to the pre-opening stage.

The Broadway land will be the permanent site for a new free school named Chadderton Primary Academy, the construction of which will be paid for by the Department for Education.

It will be run by the Harmony Trust, a multi-academy trust which already runs Greenhill Academy in Oldham.

At a meeting this week Oldham’s cabinet agreed to the ‘heads of terms’ – an agreement in principle – for a long lease of the site to the trust.

The official lease will be granted before the main construction works begin, with the ‘intention’ being that the government will procure the construction works on the site.>

Council leader Arooj Shah said: “In February 2021 the secretary of state of education decided and approved the application made for Chadderton primary academy as a mainstream non-faith mixed primary school with nursery provision in Oldham.”

She added that the 125-year peppercorn lease of the school site to the free school trust would be agreed before the main construction works begin.

According to the cabinet report, it is anticipated that the demand for school places in the Chadderton area will outstrip supply by the time the 2024 reception intake are in year 1.

“The school should be built in a way to allow easy expansion in the future should additional demand be created by further housing,” Andy Collinge, head of education support services, states.

He warns that if the new school is not delivered by the government under the free school method, the only option left to the council would be to open a new school via the ‘academy presumption route’ which could cost up to £12 million.

Hundreds of new homes have been approved in the Chadderton area in recent years, with construction recently beginning on the ‘Radclyffe Green’ development of 160 homes at Matthew Fold Farm.

The council’s Broadway Green masterplan aims to bring more than 500 homes and new commercial businesses into the area.

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