Protests as council backs Diggle school site

Photo: Tony Miller

Saddleworth parish councillor Mike Buckley addresses the meeting last night

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Oldham Council reports by Karen Doherty and Iram Ramzan

PROTESTERS shouted “shame on you” and “lemmings” as councillors rejected demands for the new £19.3m Saddleworth School not to be built in Diggle.

Around 50 angry campaigners watched as councillors debated a petition calling for the school to be re-built on its current Uppermill site. They heckled as only one councillor, independent Nikki Kirkham, backed them in a vote.

The 1,500-place school is to be rebuilt under a government programme to bring the country’s schools in the worst condition up to scratch. The Diggle site, behind the former pallet works off Huddersfield Road, has been identified by the Education Funding Agency (EFA) as the best value for money.

The EFA said rebuilding on the current, smaller site in Uppermill would take longer, cause significant disruption to the school and have a detrimental effect on pupils’ education..

The new school building itself will be on a previously developed site, with only playing fields on green belt land. If a planning application is approved, the new school will open in Easter 2017

But protesters say the move will destroy Diggle, criticising a lack of consultation and concerns over traffic and access from the small village.

Saddleworth parish councillor Mike Buckley, speaking for the Save Diggle Action Group, said the decision on where to build was the council’s to make.

“Timescales and costs for building at Diggle and Uppermill are very similar, the educational facilities offered at both are essentially the same. The costs of either are acceptable to the EFA.”

But the Diggle site received cross-party support. Councillor John McCann said: “It has been considered the best value for money by an impartial set of experts. It is also larger than the current site. This is about the children’s future, not about saving a derelict old factory that’s not fit for anything. It’s about a school that has to be kept open by emergency measures, and which leaks from top to bottom.

Protesters told the Chronicle that they were not against a new school but Keith Lucas from the action group added: “Once a school is built in the wrong place you can’t take it down, it will affect generations.”