Plans for a new 900-place secondary school in Middleton have taken a major step forward

Following a public consultation last month, Rochdale Council has now submitted an outline planning application for the new Edgar Wood Academy school in Middleton - on grazing land to the east of Heywood Old Road, in Bowlee.

Named after the famous Middleton-born architect, it would have an intake of 180 pupils per year and the council hopes to see it open in September 2022.

A detailed application will follow, but early plans for the 17-acre site show separate school and sports hall blocks of up three storeys in height.

Also included are areas of outdoor areas for socialising and play, sports courts and grass playing fields - as well as a ‘habitat area’ for pupils’ education.

Access to the site will be from Heywood Old Road.

It comes after the Department for Education last year gave the green light for a new free school to be built in Middleton, due to a spiralling demand for places.

A rising number of children entering the education system coupled with hundreds of new homes being built in the area led to council bosses forecasting the need for 200 new Year 7 places in Middleton by 2028.

 

 

Councillor Kieran Heakin, cabinet member for children’s services, says the submission of the planning application is a hugely important step.

He said: “I’m really delighted, particularly with the timing. It means we are in a position to provide for our children who are presently in Year 4.

“We will be able to get it done for them and the timing could not be better. I’m really happy about it.

“We have a bit of a challenge in the area and may well need to be looking at extra provision in the next 12 months, so knowing that in two years time we will have a new school built there, I’m absolutely delighted.”

The area originally proposed for the new school included part of Bowlee Playing Fields and was part of a wider ‘masterplan’ for the area.

However, local opposition led to the current site - on land bordering Whittle Brook down to Martindale Crescent - emerging as the preferred option.

This alternative site was put forward at a drop in meeting in March 2018 by Eric Larmett, chairman of the Friends of Bowlee group and backed by Councillor Neil Emmot: a plot of land bordering Whittle Brook down to Martindale Crescent.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/116867/controversial-bowlee-school-consultation-evening

While this plot is designated as protected open land, a planning statement submitted on behalf of the council says development would be acceptable as alternative sites do not meet the specific need for a new school to the west of Middleton.

 

The position of the school would also be to the south of the site, which the document says will ‘naturally screen the building from surrounding paths and access routes’ - as well as separating it from houses in Langley and Heywood Old Road.

Councillor Heakin believes the local community is now broadly supportive of the proposals - particularly as Middleton’s three existing secondary schools have undertaken major building work to create an additional 120 places per year since 2014.

“I think everyone knows if we don’t build a school there then, if you have a child in Year 4 at the moment, there will be nowhere for them to go to in Year 7. Everyone realises we have to improve provision in that area,” he said.

The Edgar Wood Academy will be a ‘free school’ run by the Altus Education Partnership, which also runs the ‘outstanding’-rated Rochdale Sixth Form College.

Rules brought in by the government in 2011 stop local authorities from setting up their own schools unless no sponsor comes forward for a free school or academy.

Nick Statham, Local Democracy Reporter