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Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 09:20
The new school is due to be built near Dividy Road, in Park Hall, and would cater for 1,200 secondary pupils from parts of Longton, Meir Hay, Weston Coyney, Bentilee and Bucknall.
But Stoke-on-Trent City Council will have to buy and decommission a gasometer on the site, pictured below, before the project can go ahead.
As some of the surrounding land is green belt, they will also need Government approval to build on it. And there would need to be alterations to the road layout and safety improvements.
Roger Ibbs, the council's portfolio holder for children and young people's services, told a scrutiny committee yesterday that the costs of all this work were not yet known.
He admitted it may prove too expensive to dismantle the gasometer, forcing officials to look for an alternative site for the academy, possibly at Willfield.
Mr Ibbs said: "It's a large site. But the concerns that people have expressed, with regard to getting there, are accepted. It's not going to be easy. It is a difficult junction and there are no pavements on one side."
The academy will replace four schools, although most of its pupils are expected to live in the catchment areas currently served by Edensor Technology College, in Longton, and Mitchell Business and Enterprise College, in Bucknall.
Some youngsters living near the two other secondaries facing closure – Berry Hill High and Longton High, in Meir – are also expected to go to the new school once it opens in 2011.
Members of the council's children and young people's overview and scrutiny committee raised a series of concerns at yesterday's meeting.
Councillor Janine Bridges said: "The homework has just not been done. You don't know how much it is going to cost for the gasometer to be decommissioned and you haven't done a traffic impact assessment. The traffic is horrendous."
Pat Smith, chairman of governors at Mitchell Business and Enterprise College, said: "The children would have a 40-minute walk as a result of this. It's a dangerous road – there have been 14 accidents in the last six years."
Terry Crowe, chairman of governors at Berry Hill High, pleaded with the local authority to rethink its plans.
He said: "Don't destroy five communities for the sake of lines on a map. It hasn't been thought out properly."
The final decision over the academy site will be made by the council's executive over the coming months.
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