Crunch talks over Catholic school

IN . . . Bishop Brain is due to attend discussions

THE Bishop of Salford is due to attend crunch talks next week after plans to build a Catholic high school in the town centre were dramatically ditched.

The Rt Rev Terence Brain is expected to meet with the local authority when he returns from a pilgrimage to Ireland.

He was abroad when Oldham Council ditched proposals to build the £30 million school on the Meridian Business Centre site, off Oldham by-pass, saying they were not deliverable.

Diocese officials kept him informed of the U-turn and he was briefed when he returned from America.

Canon Tony McBride, episcopal vicar for formation (including education), said a meeting would be held next week, adding: “There is a lot to be discussed because it came like a bolt out of the blue. We certainly did not expect it.”

The amalgamation of the borough’s two Catholic secondaries — Our Lady’s, Royton, and St Augustine, Werneth — is part of £230 million plans to transform Oldham’s high schools.

The council has to submit its outline business case to the Government by January. The diocese has now been re-offered the former Radclyffe Lower School site in Chadderton.

However, the church had wanted a town centre location which was equally accessible to all parts of the borough and had close links with the colleges. But campaigners were not in favour of the Meridian. Canon McBride said work had been done to overcome people’s concerns about the location, such as addressing safety issues, but dismissed a claim that the diocese could now decide not to have any high schools in Oldham.

However, the fear is that some parents may chose to send their children out of the borough rather than to Radclyffe.

He explained: “The parishes that have normally sent their children to Our Lady’s do not want the school somewhere on the other side of Oldham.

He added: “It seems that if we are going to agree everything in time for the January deadline we are going to have to face the possibility of there being only one realistic site. I hope at the meeting next week they will be able to give us a bit more information on that, if it is fit for purpose.”

“What we are doing is amalgamating two schools of equal value. A lot of people seem to think is it’s a take over by Our Lady’s. It is not”, added Canon McBride.




A contract for £65,000 for the demolition of the Radclyffe School’s Broadway buildings has been awarded to D Hughes Demolitions of Delph.