School plans spark playing field fears

by Kathie McInnes

FAMILIES fear they will no longer have access to popular playing fields if the site is used for a multi-million pound academy school.

Residents were invited to a consultation meeting yesterday to find out more about proposals for the school, which is due to replace Edensor Technology College, in Longton, and Mitchell Business and Enterprise College, Bucknall.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council had proposed building the academy on a gasometer site at Dividy Road, near Park Hall Country Park.

But this has attracted widespread opposition, with families saying pupils would have to navigate dangerous roads and the development could lead to nature, wildlife, and leisure facilities being lost.

So now an alternative spot just a few hundred yards away at Springfield, off Anchor Road, Adderley Green, is also being considered.

It is currently a community football pitch and playing fields.

Should the academy be built there, the green space will be kept but it will be fenced off to become part of the school's grounds.

Megan Heath, aged 62, who lives right by Springfield, said: "It's the only bit of grass we have in Adderley Green. It's not going to be Adderley Green anymore; it's going to just be Adderley."

At yesterday's consultation meeting, held at the Willfield Centre, education officials confirmed there would be no major rethink.

Ged Rowney, Stoke-on-Trent's director of children and young people's services, said: "If we go back and say let's have another review, we will have more delays."

He said several sites have been investigated, but only Park Hall and Springfield were now in the frame. The favoured location will picked by August.

Some residents have welcomed Springfield as more suitable for a school than Park Hall.

Russell Hawley, aged 43, from Park Hall said: "They've pulled a pearl out of the bag with Springfield.

"Schools are open to the community, so I can't see people not being allowed to use the fields."

But mother-of-three Vicki Amphlett fears the plans would lead to more young people using a greenway which passes near her home.

The 35-year-old civil servant said: "There are already problems with kids going up and down the greenway.

"It's going to get worse if you have a school with 1,200 pupils."

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Story filed in: School Shakeup | Education | News