A ridiculous decision

THE FRIDAY THING: I HAVE read a lot of the paper work and spoken to groups and individuals who have very firm views on why the new school for Saddleworth should be built in Diggle rather than the obvious, most convenient and pupil and parent preferred option in Uppermill.

The decision to take over the former W H Shaw Pallet Works in Diggle is so obtuse, impractical and, in too many ways for comfort, dangerous, that it tweaks my suspicious mind that someone, somewhere is bound to be going to make a lot of money out of the ridiculous decision.

The pallet works site will cost a fortune to prepare, sandwiched as it will be between a canal and a busy (and going to get much, much busier) main road that will ruin Diggle village and raise lots of entirely reasonable fears.

What I would like to know is this: just how was the decision to move the school to Diggle made? Who came up with the justification for the move and who is going to guarantee the safety of the young people who will have to contend with the local traffic, including parents’ cars as well as the vehicles of the good folk who live in Diggle? It is a village, not a dodgem circuit. Or is it?

Research suggests the road to the new Diggle school will have to carry 15 buses or more, up to 300 cars and the cars of up to 150 school staff. All this as well as the cars of families who already live in Diggle.

People in nearby Dobcross are also concerned about the traffic situation. Have they been considered at all?

Compared to the Uppermill school, the new Diggle school will have a huge and detrimental influence on the whole of Saddleworth, as well as significantly increasing the road safety threat to pupils.

A common-sense decision (too much to expect I know) would have been to build a new school in Uppermill, which would be much safer than Diggle and also far more convenient for pupils living all over Saddleworth.