Saddleworth School: residents have their final say

PROPOSED Saddleworth School for the Shaw pallet works site, Diggle.

SADDLEWORTH residents have had one last chance to ask questions about the controversial new Saddleworth School.

Uppermill Civic Hall was packed with people determined to have their say last night. Stephen Irvine, head of planning & infrastructure at Oldham Council, offered a rundown of the applications concerning the proposed £19.2 million Diggle school.

Mr Irvine explained there will be five zones, one for each school year group, as well as a drop-off point for 14 buses and 120 parking spaces. One of the contentious issues remains the car parking spaces for residents on Huddersfield Road. Another is the removal of the stone wall along the road, which residents want to remain.

Other objections include Green Belt issues, concerns about the listed buildings on the site and traffic concerns.

Many residents continued to question why the school is not being built on the existing Uppermill site.

Lindsey Genty from Greenfield said: “What bothers me - other than who on earth thought of building it there at all - is everything is against it and nothing is for it.

“Even though the plans look wonderful, it’d be great in an industrial area but not in a rural village.”

Her comment was met with a round of applause.

Mr Irvine ran through the four different sites considered before Diggle was chosen: “I have yet to hear that there is a better alternative site,” he added. “There is a need for a bigger school.”

The planning committee members later this month will consider whether to build the new Saddleworth School on the WH Shaw Pallets site in Diggle; demolish existing buildings on the site, excluding the listed building, and demolish the link bridge attached to the listed building and provide a parental drop-off area plus residential parking as part of a wider highways scheme in Diggle.