The site of the North Copeland academy should be the Wyndham school site in Egremont, the county council's Cabinet agreed today (Tuesday 11 December 2007).
Back in September, Cabinet agreed that its preferred location was land at Cleator Mills, Cleator and that a final decision as to where the academy should sit would be made following negotiations on acquiring the Cleator Mills land, and other technical investigative work.
That work showed that there were some risks involved in staying with the Cleator Mills site as the preferred option. These included:
- the question of whether planning permission would be granted due to the policies in Copeland's Local Plan which identifies the best use for land based on the requirements of the local are. As well as this, the whole of the Cleator Mills site is in a high flood risk category.
- being open to challenge for acquiring land at well above its market value (the asking price of some of the landowners involved)
- the possibility of not being able to stick to the challenge required timescales - the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and sponsors wish to see the academy's new building available for use as soon as possible. The maximum time that the DCSF is prepared to see an academy operate in existing buildings before moving into new accommodation is three years.
Bearing all this in mind, Cabinet today made the decision to go ahead with the Wyndham school site as the preferred site.
Speaking at today's Cabinet, Councillor Jim Buchanan, Cabinet member for Children's's Wellbeing, said:
"It was relatively easy to decide to pursue an academy for the North Copeland area, because of the many benefits it will bring in terms of enhanced opportunities and standards, plus the way it will be able to contribute to the regeneration agenda.
"What hasn't been as easy is choosing which of the two potential sites to locate that academy on.
"Because of the issues raised when further investigations were carried out into the Cleator Mills site, I feel I cannot contemplate taking a risk which might result in putting the ability to establish an academy in doubt.
"I know this will be disappointing to people in the Cleator, Cleator Moor and Frizington areas, but I really believe that the only sensible, and realistic option is to locate the proposed academy on the Wyndham school site in Egremont."
Feasibility work will now continue with a view to opening an academy by September 2008.
End
Further information from Alison Lister, media team on (01228) 606335
Notes
- To deal with the question of falling school rolls across the county, in Autumn 2005 Cumbria County Council set up a School Organisation Forum under the chairmanship of former headteacher Roger Alston to carry out a major strategic review of education in the county.
- five Local Partnership Groups were established to look at future educational provision in their areas; this included an LPG for West Cumbria. As well as headteachers and governors, the group includes representatives from district, town and parish councils, churches, further and higher education establishments, employers and MPs.