Priest hits out at ‘very shabby’ decision

Canon Eugene Dolan

A PRIEST has described the shock decision to scrap the proposed site for a new £30 million town centre Catholic high school as “very shabby”.

His reaction came after Oldham Council told Salford Diocese that building the school at the Meridian Business Centre, next to Oldham bypass, was not deliverable.

Instead, it wants the replacement for St Augustine in Werneth and Our Lady’s, Royton, built at the old Radclyffe lower school site in Chadderton.

Canon Eugene Dolan, chairman of governors at St Augustine, described the situation as “very, very shabby” and “poor business”.

He said: “There was a deal done with the Oldham authority and the Bishop in December. Everybody was there and everybody shook hands on it and nine months later . . .

“If the Bishop had withdrawn from that deal there would be fury, and rightly so, for making a deal and walking out on it.

“Now we are given a choice between nothing and a school at Radclyffe, we are not even given a choice of a site. We have been working for four/five years on this and all that has gone out of the window.”

Lib-Dem leader Howard Sykes blamed the previous Labour administration for the Meridian mess.

The site is part-owned by the council but, he revealed, the other owner won’t sell. Labour had not sought a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) and there was not now time to do so.

Bishop of Salford Terence Brain had chosen the location because it is equally accessible to the whole of Oldham.

He is currently abroad and Cannon Dolan added: “There is also the educational advantage of the site being beside the sixth-form college and near to Oldham College.

“We are between a rock and a hard place because if we do not go along with the thing it stops Oldham’s whole programme. If we go along with it we do not really help ourselves.”

The Chronicle has been unable to contact the Salford Diocese.

However, Joe Fitzpatrick, chairman of Oldham District Labour Party, claims that there is a real possibility that the Bishop will close the Catholic secondaries and urge parents to use others on the border of Oldham.

He claims another option is to close St Augustine’s and stay on the Our Lady’s site — threatening plans to build an academy there.

Mike Ashton, chairman of Governors at Our Lady’s added: “It is out of out hands. We are now waiting for the Bishop to return from his trip. He will take the decision.”