‘Right site’ pledge

BIG PLANS. . . The former Brook Mill site, the dark-roofed building (centre) between Durban Mill on the left and Heron Mill on the right

Mill chosen for borough’s second academy

THE old Brook Mill in Hollinwood has been named as the proposed site for a new academy school.



But the decision has been slammed for costing millions more than the original plans for the old Oak Colliery site.

Cabinet members last night agreed that the part-occupied former mill in Mill Gate was the most appropriate alternative location.

The five-storey mill building is currently home to Trendsetter Home Furnishings, with some of the space sublet to other businesses.

Other, previously proposed, sites for the school, which will replace Kaskenmoor and South Chadderton schools, included the colliery and nearby Chapel Road playing fields.

Council leader Howard Sykes said: “The council is confident they have been able to find a site which matches the needs of pupils with the demands of a new location.

“After exhausting many alternatives we now strongly feel this is the best proposal for Oldham.”

The council is to begin a consultation this month about its preferred sites under the £230 million Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project.

BSF will transform secondary education by closing five schools — Breeze Hill, Counthill, Grange, Kaskenmoor and South Chadderton — and building two academies.

But Labour Councillor Dave Hibbert said choosing a new site has delayed the academy.

And, he said, having to demolish the mill before building the school would cost more.

He said: “It’s costing millions of pounds more in order to honour an election pledge.

“The new site is also going to potentially result in 40 job losses”

But Councillor Sykes said: “The people inside the mill were looking to relocate anyway and this gives us 18 months to work with them.

“I think the public will accept this new site, it is in the right part.”

Councillor Sykes admitted it would cost the council more to buy the mill.

He said: “But what would it have cost us to build on a colliery site? We don’t even know what is underneath.

“It is important to get the right site in the right place.”




The council will be holding a public information event about the proposed changes with presentations and exhibitions on September 17 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall from noon to 8.30pm.



A series of consultations will also be held at the five affected secondary schools throughout October.