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Third option on Academies

Mark Hesford
27/ 6/2008

A NEW location has been thrown into the mix as council chiefs consider the best site to house two controversial academies.

Last month, following opposition from residents, the council launched a fresh consultation into the placement of the buildings which are set to replace North Manchester High School for Boys and North Manchester High School for Girls.

Originally, the academies were planned to be built on the existing boys' school site, on Charlestown Road, Blackley.

However, as a result of the original consultation process, a site fronting on to Victoria Avenue East was also suggested.

After furious resistance to both sites from local residents, the consultation was dramatically scrapped in March and as part of new discussions, a third option has been suggested - a plot of land between a public footpath and the existing boys' school playing field.

Now the council is preparing to discuss the site options with the schools, local MPs and residents.

Additionally, executive member for children and young people, Sheila Newman, announced proposals to cut the size of the academies down from 1,800 pupils to 1,500.

"It was previously proposed to establish two 900 place academies," she said. "But in deprived areas, research shows that smaller schools are more effective."

Cate Maddison, spokesperson for the Anti-Academy Residents Association, which opposes building the academies on the current boys' school site, said: "We haven't had a meeting to discuss this yet, but my personal view is that this new site is a good idea. It's a good compromise for both sets of protestors."

However, Margaret Martin, spokesperson for the Victoria Avenue East protesters remained unimpressed.

"We're not happy because we don't want the trees near us touching," she said. "They're still going to have to pull down these trees to build the academies on this new site, and it's still too near to where a lot of pensioners live.

"It makes no difference that there's going to be less pupils – many pensioners still find a lot of young people intimidating."