Latest progress on new Radcliffe High School

Plans to build a new secondary school in Radcliffe have moved another step forward.

Bury Council has reached agreement on leasing the former Coney Green school site to the Department for Education for use by Star Academy Trust, who will build the 750-place school scheduled to open in 2024.

Star and the Department for Education are currently working on a feasibility study for the new school building, in anticipation of a planning submission in 2022.

The council will retain the freehold of the site and grant a long leasehold to the DfE at a ‘peppercorn’ rate.

The proposed access road from Spring Lane will sit outside the school site but will be delivered as part of the project to build the school, but funded by the council.

The plans involve the relocation of the Spring Lane School, the council’s Pupil Referral Unit (PRU), and work is under way on this, with the timing of the relocation to be agreed.

As part of the Radcliffe Strategic Regeneration Framework, a new leisure centre including a pool is proposed to be included in the new town centre hub. The existing Radcliffe Pool and Leisure Centre will need to be decommissioned and demolished at an agreed date to facilitate the school build. However, subject to the planned construction work, it may be feasible for Radcliffe Pool and Leisure Centre to continuing operating for as long as possible to enable continued service provision and community access.

Councillor Tamoor Tariq, cabinet member for children’s services, young people and skills, said: “All of us are eagerly anticipating the arrival of a new high school in Radcliffe after all this time, and today’s agreement is an important step forward in bringing it home.”

Councillor Eamonn O’Brien, leader of the council, added: “This is very much part of our ongoing string of successes around the wider regeneration of Radcliffe. Alongside the £20m we won for our Radcliffe Levelling Up bid, returning a high school to Radcliffe is a strong sign of how we are restoring pride and confidence in this great town.”

ENDS

Press release issued: 19 November 2021.