Governor warns of wait for school

Brian Lord

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PARENTS have been warned a judicial review over the siting of a new £19.2 million school could cause further delays and be damaging to children.

Brian Lord, chairman of governors at Saddleworth School, says governors want to make it clear to parents how delays could impact on children’s education.

His warning comes after Save Diggle Action Group (SDAG), campaigning for the school to remain in Uppermill, said it has been “overwhelmed” by support for a judicial review.

Now in a letter to all parents, Mr Lord, a Saddleworth parish councillor, said the £19.2 million school has already incurred a two-year delay because of some community opposition.

But he clarified: “That said, local democracy has worked and, thanks to engagement of local people, the current plans are a significant improvement on those that were originally drawn up.

“Governors are pleased with a preferable site, a strong, coherent design and how the two fit together.

“If we proceed now without judicial review then the new school should be open for business by September, 2018.

Argued

“If a judicial review is lodged we will face even more delays and yet more Saddleworth children will be denied the benefits that these excellent new facilities can bring.

“Opponents to the scheme have long argued ‘why can the new school not be built on the existing school site in Uppermill?’.

“The answer is, it could but it is not preferable. This has been proved by a complex and highly technical feasibility report published over a year ago.”

The report – available via the Oldham Council website – spells out why the Diggle site was chosen.

He declared: “The Diggle site is larger, flatter, cheaper to build on and significantly, there would be no disturbance to the education of children during the construction phase.”

He said there are issues regarding accessing the Diggle site and accessing the village because of the number of cars parked on the road into the village.

“However, the council is working to mitigate these issues through, for example, parking spaces for residents on Huddersfield Road, a turning circle and improved footpaths,” he wrote.

“We hardly need to point out to parents access to the Uppermill site is far from ideal, indeed, the footpath at the bottom of the drive is barely wide enough for single file pedestrian traffic.

“The internal layout of the new school has been carefully designed to optimise space and to maintain a human scale in what will be a very large school.

“Each year group will be designated as a home school and children will attend the majority of lessons in their own area which will also be available during lunch and break time.

“The community will be welcomed into the school to access the excellent sporting facilities, the canteen, much larger hall and two drama studios all of which are located on the ground floor.

Upgrade

“It is only the all-weather pitch and playing fields that will be located on greenbelt land and again these will be an upgrade on the current facilities.

“It is obvious how many great opportunities the new school will bring to the children of Saddleworth for years to come.

“We believe the time for arguing is over and further delays due to Judicial Review would be damaging for children.

“Many parents have felt unable to stand up and speak their minds yet the vast majority who come in to school just want to see the new school built.

“The time has come for all of us to speak up and get behind this initiative or risk losing the funding altogether.”

And he urges: “Please support what we are trying to achieve and let’s get a great new school.”

Explaining the reason for the judicial review, parish councillor Keith Lucas, of SDAG, said: “It is to highlight the flawed site selection process, which has never taken into account the substantial harm to the local environment in Diggle, when the school can be built in Uppermill with no such harm.”