Residents anger at ‘secret’ vote to build new high school on green belt land

Local residents have expressed anger at ‘secret’ plans to build a new high school on green belt land in Middleton.

Rochdale Borough Council has signed off plans to release land on Bowlee Community Park for the school, to be built by the Altus Education Partnership, who run Rochdale Sixth Form College.

A site for the school – Edgar Wood Academy – had to be decided upon prior to a free school bid by Altus to the Department of Education. Applications for new free school sites must be submitted during set periods of time throughout the year.

A 'secret' vote on Bowlee was taken after public and press had been excluded at a cabinet meeting at Rochdale Town Hall in December 2017. The cabinet heard that for the council to meet its statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, a new secondary school needs to open in the borough in September 2020. The school will hold 180 pupils per year with a capacity for 900 pupils between 11 and 16 years of age.

A previous unnamed site was deemed to be too small for the proposal.

The decision was reached as Bowlee ‘meets the requirements for a school site’ and ‘has already been offered for potential development’.   

Greenbelt campaigner Colette Wagstaff said: "The irony is that they have demolished several large school sites over the years in Middleton to build houses on them. They have built hundreds more since and hundreds more are planned on our green space and now they have decided they need a school after all, taking even more of the green space left for it.

"It is scandalous."                                                                                 

Leaflets depicting an artist’s impression of the school have been handed out to local primary school pupils. The leaflet also contains information about the partnership, the curriculum, famed architect Edgar Wood and why Middleton requires a new school. An aerial plan of the school buildings, football pitches and parking also features.

A public consultation drop in will take place in the function room of the David Lloyd Gym on Heywood Old Road between 3.00pm and 6.30pm on Monday 5 March.

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UPDATE

This article was amended to remove part of a quotation that stated that Councillor Phil Burke was a member of the Council Cabinet - as this was inaccurate we apologise to Councillor Burke.

We also apologise to Councillor Neil Emmot for including a quote which made a claim he disputes.