Extra £3.5m approved for school expansion

DATED . . . Royton and Crompton School

COUNCIL chiefs have agreed to fund an extra £3.5million to not only rebuild but expand a dated school as part of a £17.5million overhaul.

At a cabinet meeting last night, councillors approved proposals to invest an additional £3.5 million of council money on top of the £14 million earmarked by the Education Funding Agency to rebuild Royton & Crompton secondary.

In 2014, Oldham Council applied for Priority Schools Building Programme funding for three schools, with only Royton and Crompton successful in 2015.

The cash was intended to be used to build a new school on the current site with an eight-form entry of 240 pupils per year.

However, the council asked the EFA to consider increasing the construction to accommodate a 10-form entry of 300 pupils a year after anticipating a shortfall in the provision of secondary school places.

It would mean 1,500 pupils attending the school in total.

Rebuild

The EFA confirmed this would require additional funding from the council at an estimated cost of £3.5million, which the cabinet has now agreed to do.

The rebuild could include a new sports hall and see the current synthetic pitch replaced with a new one at a cost of £170,000 to the council.

Councillor Amanda Chadderton, cabinet member for education and early years, said: "On a personal level I think this is quite a significant move.

"I get parents coming to me saying what a state that school is in. That school in 2016 is just not adequate.

"Education isn't just about teaching students, we also have a duty that all our students are taught in a building that is fit for purpose."

Councillor Abdul Jabbar agreed but admitted he felt it had taken a considerable amount of time to reach this point.

He said the progression of rebuilding was an issue that needed to be dealt with.