Decision day on contested £6m relocation of city special school

Hull Council’s cabinet will meet today to decide on the location for the new £6m Bridgeview school, which is being brought within the city boundary from its current site in Hessle in the East Riding.

Despite a petition signed by more than a thousand people calling for Bridgeview to remain where it is, a refurbishment or rebuild on its present site has been ruled and two other options are on the table – at Tilbury primary or Bethune primary, which are to be vacated and amalgamated into the new Christopher Pickering primary now under construction in Burnham Road, which is due to open in September.

A council report recommends Bethune as the preferred location, as this would bring it within the “West Hull Learning Village” comprising Sirius Academy, Ganton special school and Christopher Pickering primary.

However, Sirius principal Dr Cathy Taylor has named the Tilbury site as her preferred location, which is further away.

Residents who oppose the Bethune site say they have already endured enough disruption because of building work, and raise concerns about the prospect of the Bridegeview pupils “escaping”.

They said in their consultation response: “We will have been living in the middle of a building site for almost three years when the new primary school is completed. We have put up with all the noise, dirt and disruption to roadways and have had enough!

“At the meeting someone who had worked at Bridgeview raised concerns about pupils escaping, as has happened previously.

“He felt very strongly that the pupils would be able to get through any security measures if they really wanted to and that a residential area such as this was not the right place for a BESD (behavioural, emotional and social difficulties) school.

“We already have enough problems with anti-social behaviour along the cinder track from Sirius pupils, both those going to and from the school and truants.”

The report said: “The preferred option for the relocation of Bridgeview would be to locate it on the former site of Bethune Park primary school.”

As well as saying Bethune would be more “spacious” than Tilbury, it added: “Educationally, the Bethune site would ensure that pupils from Bridgeview were fully integrated into the mainstream and special educational environment that forms the West Hull Learning Village. “...the village will form a centre of excellence for education in West Hull, and as such Bridgeview should not be isolated by its location”.

But Pickering ward Liberal Democrat councillor Claire Thomas said she still had concerns about the way the issue had been handled, and that maintaining the existing site should not be ruled out.

She said: “I’m still concerned about the options and the consultation process. In particular I am concerned that cabinet members have not met with local residents, and that other site options have not been considered fully, including the existing Bridgeview site.”

Coun Thomas added: “Many local residents have spoken to me concerned about the ongoing disruption in the area from continued building works following on from the building of Sirius Academy and Christopher Pickering primary. They are also concerned about the impact of traffic in the area, parking problems, flood risk, loss of local green space, and loss of local community facilities.”

Bridgeview is currently designated as an 88-place school for children aged between seven and 16 with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties and has 54 residential places. The new school would lose its residential element and cater only for primary aged children.