Colliery site ‘no U-turn’

Oldham Council is applying to change the covenant on the Oak Colliery in Hollinwood — the site it rejected for a new academy — for educational development.

But the change is a technical one to allow the site to be used for school playing fields, and to get proper approval for the skateboard park.

Last year the Liberal Democrat administration ditched the Oak Colliery site in favour of the near-by Brook Mill for an academy run by the Oasis charity, replacing Kaskenmoor and South Chadderton schools.

Officers are now applying to change the legal covenant on the colliery site, a public open space, to allow it to be used for school playing fields and to regularise the use by the skate park.

Council leader Howard Sykes said: “This is no U-turn, it is just to allow the sports field developments.”

Officers say there will be public consultation on the plans.