Rethink over new Preston secondary school site after comments suggest parents were unimpressed
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Lancashire County Council has been considering the results of a public consultation into its proposal to create a 600-pupil facility on the plot currently occupied by the former Tulketh High School, on Tag Lane in Ingol.
However, the authority says that the responses it received suggest parents would rather see a new school spring up elsewhere.
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Hide AdAlthough the precise numbers for and against the plan have not yet been revealed by County Hall, it appears that the strength of feeling was sufficient to force a rethink of a blueprint which had also attracted criticism from across the political divide.
Councillors at city and county level had questioned why the Tulketh High option was being put forward when land was already earmarked for a secondary school in Higher Bartle, closer to the plethora of new properties in North West Preston which were helping fuel demand for classroom places.
The county council’s cabinet member for education and skills told a recent cabinet meeting that the informal consultation into the re-use of Tulketh High's former home had “given an indication that parents would prefer another site”.
Jayne Rear added that the authority was “considering [its] options and consulting with partners”, but the Conservative politician added that the Tulketh High proposal was still being kept in reserve as “a backstop”.
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Hide AdAs the Lancashire Post revealed just before Christmas, when the consultation began, councillors were quick to express concern at the proposed location, which they claimed would require pupils to travel further to school than they would otherwise have had to.
Liberal Democrat county councillor John Potter - who represents the Preston West division - had previously called for housebuilding in the area to be halted until firm plans were in place for the long-promised new secondary school and two new primary facilities.
All three were an integral part of the North West Preston Masterplan, published in 2017, to guide the development of 5,500 new homes in the area over the two decades through until the mid-2030s - although the document did not indicate any timescale for their arrival.
While pleased that the Tulketh High site appears to have fallen out of favour, County Cllr Potter said it was just the latest instalment of the “chaos and confusion” surrounding plans for new schools in Preston and where they might be built.
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Hide Ad“Parents are wondering what to do and people are wondering whether they should move into this area - and whether we will get the schools that we were promised. It’s just been a nightmare for years and the Tories just don't seem to be able to get a handle on it,” County Cllr Potter said.
Meanwhile, Trevor Hart, a Conservative on Preston City Council, serving the Ingol and Cottam ward, said he hoped that parental responses over the proposed secondary school would prompt a similar reassessment of a site suggested for one of the two planned primary schools, which was also consulted upon.
The county council put forward a plot of land at Cottam Hall, off Merry Trees Lane, behind the Ancient Oak pub, for a 210-pupil infant and junior school - but Cllr Hart told the Post back in December that it, too, would generate unnecessary, and likely car-based, commuting to the classroom.
“I'm hopeful that they will have taken the [secondary school comments] as a very clear signal before they get themselves in a mess over the primary [school plans],” he said in response to the county council's shifting stance.
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Hide AdRegarding the high school plans, he added: “For me, it needs to go across towards Higher Bartle to serve the new developments over there - and it looks to me like that is what they are considering at this moment in time.
“It’s still a case of ‘watch this space’ - but they said to us that they are listening to us and I think it's moving in the right direction,” Cllr Hart said.
The North West Preston Masterplan provided indicative - rather than definitive - locations for the trio of schools that it promised.
However, as part of planning permission granted by Preston City Council in January last year, land was earmarked for a secondary facility within a 320-home development east of Sandy Lane and west of Tabley Lane in Higher Bartle - almost one-and-a-half miles from the Tulketh High plot proposed as part of the consultation.
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Hide AdSpace for a primary school was also carved out of an estate of 200 homes to the north of Tabley Lane - just under a mile from the suggested Cottam Hall site in the consultation - when that development was approved in November 2020.
The full results of the survey of opinion into the secondary and primary plans are due to be presented to the next meeting of the county council’s cabinet in April.
The authority told the Post in December that the fact it was in control of the Tulketh High and Cottam Hall sites was a major factor in its decision to consult over their use for the new schools, which are needed by September 2025.
A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said after the latest cabinet meeting that the authority was “currently reviewing the results of the public consultation”.
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Hide Ad"Taking the responses into consideration, we are now assessing a range of options, including looking at alternative sites, and are continuing to assess the suitability of the former Tulketh High School site.
"These proposals will help us to meet increasing demand for places that will be needed in the coming years.
"Any proposals relating to this matter will be brought back to cabinet once all of the options have been carefully considered."
Once built, the new schools will admit pupils on a phased basis, gradually building up to their full capacities as more age groups are added.