Plea for answers in school saga

SAGA . . . Saddleworth School

THE council has been urged to keep people up to date on the Saddleworth School saga.

Construction was originally due to begin on a replacement school in 2014, with the £19 million secondary to open in autumn 2015.

But this was derailed when opponents to the chosen site in Diggle won a high court battle which ruled that the plans to build the school in Diggle were unlawful.

Risked

Oldham Council and Saddleworth School are working with the Education Funding Agency (EFA) to manage the project for the Department for Education.

Councillor John Hudson said: "I am not criticising the council leader or the Cabinet for the situation, I know it's not their fault but the information coming out is very slow and we need to be kept up to date."

He also asked if the council risked losing the money for the new school because of the delay.

Council leader Jean Stretton did not answer this but said: "At this stage we are still awaiting final information from the EFA."