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There are now two possible places a new secondary school could be built in Preston after a site that was all but ruled out just a week ago was unexpectedly put back on the table.
Lancashire County Council’s cabinet was set to approve plans to construct the facility on land previously occupied by Tulketh High School, in Ingol, which closed 16 years ago.
The proposal appeared to scupper a longstanding ambition to build a new secondary in Higher Bartle, at the heart of the rapidly expanding North West Preston area, where 5,500 new homes are being created over the course of 20 years.
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As the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) revealed last week, the option of creating a school in that location was thought to have been closed off until 2030 – three years after the new 600-pupil establishment will be needed in September 2027.
That was in spite of the fact that a plot for that purpose had been reserved within an approved housing development on land between Sandy Lane and Tabley Lane, just south of the M55.
However, during the meeting at which the process of developing the former Tulketh High site was due to be approved, cabinet member for education and skills Jayne Rear said “new information” had come to light in recent days which indicated that the Higher Bartle land could become available “more quickly than anticipated”.
For that reason, the cabinet agreed to keep their options open for the next three months by drawing up plans for both locations – and then deciding early in the new year which of the two would “provide the required places” within the tight timeframe for delivering them.
Deputy county council leader Alan Vincent said that if the Higher Bartle plot fulfilled that criteria and was assessed as being “physically capable of taking a school”, then it would become the “favourite site”.
“It is…almost certainly going to be the better [one],” County Cllr Vincent said. Last week, County Cllr Rear had acknowledged that the former Tulketh High, on Tag Lane, was not the preferred option for the new secondary – but was, at that point, the only “realistic” choice.
The meeting heard that the chance of building the facility in Higher Bartle now hinged on the rapid conclusion of the planning process for the housing development within which it would sit. Although the 320-dwelling estate, proposed by Taylor Wimpey and Bloor Homes, was granted outline permission by Preston City Council in January 2022, the so-called ‘reserved matters’ – finalising its design and layout – had yet to be given the green light.
However, the LDRS can reveal that the authority gave that final approval on Thursday, unbeknown to county council cabinet members one of whom, Aidy Riggott, urged those with influence over the city council to “encourage” it to move “as quickly as possible” over the matter.
However, even with that hurdle now cleared, the cabinet had already heard from County Hall’s interim director of finance Noel O’Neill that the availability of the Higher Bartle site for a school would still be “in the hands of the developers”.
Only once they have issued a notice to the authority to advise when work will begin can the county council take possession of the land – for what the LDRS understands will be a nominal sum.
“If, for whatever reason…the developer sits on that [formal notice], there’s no action we can take,” Mr. O’Neill explained. However, he added that such a scenario was “highly unlikely” to occur.
County Cllr Rear said the authority had moved with “caution” over the new school, based on lessons learned from previous projects that had resulted in an “oversupply” of places.
“Expansion of existing schools has been the preferred option – however, this is no longer the most viable [way] to meet required demand. Data indicates now is the time to build new schools in the Preston area,” she added.
Labour opposition group leader Matthew Tomlinson said he appreciated that planning for school places was “a challenge”, but cautioned against building a new school “six months quicker” – and then having it stand somewhere unsuitable for “50 [or] 60 years”.
Cabinet also approved the development of a new primary school on the former site of Whittingham Hospital, which could ultimately accommodate 420 pupils.
Fighting over facts
Liberal Democrat county councillor John Potter – in whose Preston West division the former Tulketh High site sits – last week warned the Conservative-run authority it was planning to build the new secondary school “in the wrong place”.
At Thursday’s cabinet meeting – speaking before the resurrection of the Higher Bartle option had been revealed – he said the shift to focusing on Ingol had come from “a place of panic, rather than sensible, long-term thinking”.
He suggested the situation had arisen because of a “black hole” in the Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire City Deal, the 2013 government funding agreement to deliver the infrastructure needed to build 17,000 homes and create 20,000 new jobs across Central Lancashire over the following decade. Under the initiative, three major new roads have been built – the Penwortham and Broughton bypasses and the £207m Preston Western Distributor Road, whose price tag was double that originally estimated.
However, Alan Vincent – who is also the county council cabinet member for resources, as well as deputy leader – accused County Cllr Potter of being “factually, totally inaccurate”. He dismissed the claim of a shortfall in the City Deal and said the authority did not currently have control over the Higher Bartle land to develop it for “a school or anything else”.
Phil Green, Lancashire County Council’s executive director of growth, environment and transport, told the cabinet meeting that subject to adherence to the “revised terms” of the City Deal, which were agreed earlier this year, it was “financially balanced” and “key deliverables” had been determined.
Those new terms – which will see the deal continue beyond its original lifespan – were approved by Lancashire County Council, Preston City Council and South Ribble Borough Council at meetings of the respective authorities in May and June. All of those discussions were held in private, as they were deemed confidential – and information about the new iteration of the City Deal has not been published.
County Cllr Potter said that out of £39m originally allocated for education infrastructure in the City Deal, “only £5.4m has been spent”.
Speaking to the LDRS after the meeting, he said there had been “chaos and confusion” over the new school plans, which had caused families “unnecessary stress”. He added that he would be “applying political pressure until we are sure we are getting the school where we need it to be”.
Meanwhile, Labour’s Preston South East representative Jennifer Mein said she welcomed the proposed new secondary school, but noted that the need for it – as well as for two primaries – had been established when the City Deal was signed more than a decade ago.
“It’s absolutely delightful to hear that, 11 years later…the cabinet are swiftly moving forward to design a high school in the location which was earmarked in 2013 and has been needed for at least the last three years,” County Cllr Mein said.
The two primary schools proposed for North West Preston – in a masterplan for the area published in 2017 – are yet to get off the drawing board and their locations have not been confirmed The facility now approved for the former Whittingham Hospital site lies outside of the masterplan area.
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