The great Catholic high school divide

Cock up or conspiracy? That was the question following the publication of a damning report into the handling of plans for Oldham’s new £30m Catholic high school.

The first, admitted former council leader David Jones at a recent meeting. But whatever the cause, reporter Karen Doherty looks at its legacy.

“PROBABLY nothing since the troubles in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s has divided the Catholic community more than this issue.”

Tough speaking from Councillor Jack Hulme as he reflects on the controversy which dogged the new Catholic high school which will replace St Augustine’s, Werneth, and Our Lady’s, Royton, from 2012.

The choice of its location —the Meridian Business Centre next to the bypass — sparked bitter divisions and recriminations among Catholics.

And the tragedy for Councillor Hulme is that it was for nothing following the findings of a scathing report into how the former Labour administration handled the plans.

“The site hadn’t been procured, the funds weren’t available and there was inadequate planning,” explained the Tory group leader.

“They did not come clean. The first time this came to light was when this report was published in April. All those issues that divided the Catholic community, and still do, were unnecessary. This has been a sorry deal from start to finish and it’s a great tragedy.”

He explained that people at St Patrick’s, Oldham, and St Edward’s, Lees, were supportive as the site fulfilled the Bishop of Salford’s vision of equal access for all.

A single bus ride away for all pupils, no matter where they lived in the borough, it would provide an alternative to parents who send their children to St Damien’s in Tameside.

But those at Joseph’s, St Herbert’s, St Aiden’s on the west of the town, more likely to go to Our Lady’s, argued why swap the school’s large site for one that was branded dangerous, polluted and too small?

Tensions ran high as letters of anger flooded into the Oldham Chronicle, mainly from those against. There was also a racist undercurrent from a minority which was acknowledged in consultation carried out by the diocese.

“We don’t want our children going into an Asian area,” one person told the Chronicle, while some were concerned about Our Lady’s merging with a school with a high number of Asian pupils.

Councillor Hulme was among the 900 protesters who marched against the proposed location — their outrage compounded when Our Lady’s was chosen as the site for a new academy school.

But the critical report by Oldham’s head of corporate governance found that the council had drawn up plans for land it did not own, which were driven by a management team which was too small and a partnership board which was too big.

Parts of the site were owned by three different people, but only one wanted to sell. The only way the council could guarantee ownership was a compulsory purchase order, but none was approved.

A railway cutting was to be filled in for the school playing fields. This depended on people voting for the congestion charge in Greater Manchester — and the result was an overwhelming NO.

The exact costs of buying all the land was not clear; estimates for the railway cutting alone ranged from nothing to £4 million. Incompetence on the part of council officials was implied and lack of scrutiny by councillors.

The site was ditched as undeliverable after the Liberal Democrats swept to power in May, 2008.

Council leader Howard Sykes branded the Meridian a pipe dream and said: “It set parent against parent, governor against governor, head and clergy against each other with something that was never going to happen.”.

Councillor Hulme agreed: “As a result of the report all that action in favour or against was totally irrelevant. The divisions are enormously deep and even now they are still there, though hopefully they are getting better.”

The school will now be built in Broadway, Chadderton, as part of Oldham’s £230 million Building School’s for the Future plans to overhaul secondary education.

But Father Phil Sumner from St Patrick’s, who supported the Bishop’s vision for a central school, does not agree that the Catholic community has been torn apart.

“The Catholic community is strong enough here to be able to say ‘we have these disagreements, but they are not utterly destructive’.

“Whenever you have an amalgamation, even two schools from the same faith, there are problems.”

Councillor Hulme admits Chadderton is not an ideal solution, and argues that providing transport such as yellow school busses is the key to its success. We have got to build the best school possible, staff it appropriately and have the transport arrangements in place otherwise we will continue to haemorrhage kids to Tameside, and to a lesser degree to Rochdale,

Father Sumner, well known for his community cohesion work, is not so optimistic, citing fears over long-term transport funding.

But following some of the “worrying” opposition to the Meridian site, he hopes that the new school will be part of the vision for a diverse Oldham.

“If you come to my church we have many Filipinos, many Indians, people from Pakistan. We have 33 different nationalities that worship here on a Sunday.

“In the future we are not going to have a white Catholic community in Oldham. We are going to have a mixed community.

“I would hope that the school would be part of that.”