Major new school projects due to go ahead after beating cuts

Jeni Harvey

COUNCILLORS in Barnsley are set to give the go-ahead to the third and final phase of the town’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project next week.

At a planning committee meeting on Tuesday full planning permission is set to be granted for new schools at Darfield, Athersley and at Holgate School on the edge of the town centre.

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A new school on the former Darfield colliery will replace The Foulstone and Wombwell High schools.Another on the site of the current Holgate School and Sports College will take pupils from both Holgate and Kingstone School, while the new joint-faith school in Carlton Road, Athersley, will teach children aged three to 16 and replace the existing St Michael’s Catholic and CE High, Holy Cross Deanery CE Primary and St Dominic’s Catholic Primary schools.

In July Education Secretary Michael Gove announced that funding would be scrapped for all BSF projects that had not already reached “financial close” due to the huge cost of the scheme.

However, the BSF scheme in Barnsley, like that in neighbouring Sheffield, escaped the cull as plans were already at a suitably advanced stage.

Nine new Advanced Learning Centres, each costing between 25m and 30m, are set to be built to replace 13 outdated secondary school buildings. Two special schools, Springwell and Greenacre, will also be rebuilt.

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Seven people have objected to plans for the new school at Darfield Colliery, expressing concerns about the number of trees that will need to be felled and also claiming that such a development should not take place on green belt land.

Objections have also been raised on the grounds of traffic congestion and the possibility of “rat running” around Pitt Street and Station Road.

However, town planners have advised that the detailed plans should be given the go-ahead. In a report set to go before Tuesday’s committee meeting, they say: “The development was approved in principle at the outline stage, along with a means of access from Wombwell bypass including a roundabout and a new road to be provided through the country park to the site.

“It is, therefore, recommended that approval be granted. The building itself would be of an attractive modern design that would relate to the country park surroundings.”

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The new school to replace the existing Holgate and Kingstone schools will also be built in a former quarry, on site of the former SR Gents clothing factory in Dodworth Road.

Three people have objected to the plans, citing concerns about potential parking problems and traffic congestion. However, town planners say the “exciting” new building is needed.

Their report says: “The new building includes a sports hall, theatre and a 120-space car park. The building has been designed to encourage community use, including the disabled, and to maximize the usage of the new community facilities.”

The new faith school, meanwhile, will be built roughly on the site of Edward Sheerien High school. Building work is already well under way on the new Carlton ALC, which was in the first phase of Barnsley’s BSF scheme and will take pupils from Edward Sheerien and Royston high schools.

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At the new faith school there will be a 26-place nursery, 360 primary places, 700 secondary places and 73 sixth-form places.

Just two letters of objection have been submitted, citing potential parking and access problems.

Urging the application’s approval, planners say: “The proposal is for an exciting modern new school building needed to replace three outdated existing schools on the site.”

Tuesday’s planning meeting will begin at 1pm at Barnsley Town Hall.

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