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Controversial plans to double the size of a village school in Preston have been scrapped after locals warned any increase in traffic would make the roads in the rural area even more congested and risky than they already are.
Almost 400 people signed a petition objecting to the expansion of Goosnargh Oliverson’s Church of England Primary School, which was approved by Lancashire County Council’s cabinet back in December.
The authority has now pulled the plug on the proposal, which would have seen the number of pupils at the Goosnargh Lane facility double from 210 to 420 over the course of the next seven years. It cited traffic and parking issues as being amongst the reasons for the reversal.
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The move was initially given the green light in spite of the results of a public consultation last autumn in which 84 percent of respondents expressed road safety fears in the face of a rise in vehicle numbers – which the separate petition described as already being at “staggering” levels during school pick-up and drop-off time.
More than half of the consultation’s 128 respondents also claimed pupils and pedestrians were being placed in danger – even as things stood – by “inconsiderate parking and vehicles mounting the pavements to pass through the area”.
Jayne Rear, the then cabinet member for education under the previous Conservative administration at County Hall, pledged at the time the expansion was given the go-ahead that “highways management” issues would be dealt with during “the formal planning process”.
As the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) revealed after the cabinet decision was taken, both the school and the Diocese of Blackburn – which oversees the voluntary-aided establishment – said they were “open to supporting the expansion, but share some of the concerns around traffic”.
News that education bosses had dropped the plans emerged in an email from the school’s headteacher, Helen Sant, which was posted by a third party in a village Facebook group earlier this week.
Ms. Sant said she had received “very little information” from the county council about its intentions during what she described as a “frustrating time” – but added that the school had been working with the authority “in order to support the needs of children” in the community, in view of a growing shortage of school places.
While the headteacher said she had been advised of the change of course last Friday, it is not known exactly when the decision to abandon the plans was taken, nor by whom.
That is because details of the rethink have emerged during the transition period to the new Reform UK administration at the county council – but before the authority’s new cabinet has been officially confirmed and its leader-elect voted in, both of which are due to happen on Thursday.
The authority says the expansion was dropped “following further analysis and scrutiny of the plans”. It added that Goosnargh Oliverson’s had submitted an “expression of interest” as far back as June 2022 to work with the county council to provide additional school places.
Jacqui Old, executive director of education and children’s services at Lancashire County Council, said: “We have listened to residents’ views and had further talks with our highways team and decided that we will no longer move forward with the expansion of Goosnargh Oliverson’s school building.
“This is largely due to concerns around the access, traffic and parking that a further 210 children would add to the village.
“However, we are planning to proceed with a temporary – and then permanent – [school] at the Whittingham Hospital site for at least 315 places.
“If approved, this will deliver 60 additional places from September 2026.
“There is still a need for more provision in the area and we will continue to work with the community and district councils to find another solution to expand educational provision in the area.
“Thank you again to everyone who has engaged with us on this matter.”
The LDRS approached the school via the Diocese of Blackburn and was issued with a joint statement, which said: “Goosnargh Oliverson’s CE Primary School and the Diocese of Blackburn acknowledge Lancashire County Council’s decision not to proceed with the expansion following the consultation and our concerns regarding access, traffic, and parking.
“The Diocese are open to supporting [the county council] in addressing the need for additional primary school places in the area.”
The first 30 additional reception-aged children had been due to be admitted to the school this September, using temporary facilities, with permanent new accommodation to follow.
Where will new primary school places come from now?
When Lancashire County Council agreed to expand Goosnargh Oliverson’s last December, cabinet members were told the extra capacity was required in spite of the authority having also agreed to build a brand new primary school on the former Whittingham Hospital site nearby.
Both developments were deemed necessary to meet the demand for places as a result of high birth rates and new housing sites in the Goosnargh and Grimsargh areas of Preston, together with Longridge, in neighbouring Ribble Valley.
As they acknowledge, the fact that the Goosnargh Oliverson’s expansion is no longer on the table means education bosses will now have to look elsewhere to find a way of bridging the gap it leaves behind.
It may also explain the latest in a series of changes to the scale of the planned Whittingham school – on land bordering Henry Littler Way and St. Johns Drive – which has already shifted on more than one occasion.
When the blueprint for the facility was approved by the county council’s cabinet in June 2023, it was for a two-form entry school, admitting 60 reception pupils per year – split across two classes – and so ultimately accommodating 420 children.
However, when a formal planning application for the development was lodged in December 2024, the proposal had reverted to an earlier vision – from when the school was first mooted six years ago – for a 210-pupil establishment with just one form of entry each year.
That application has not so far been considered by the authority’s cross-party development control committee.
But now, in explaining its decision to drop the Goosnargh Oliverson’s proposal, the county council has revealed a version of the Whittingham school that would cater for “at least 315 pupils” – a tally halfway between the two previously suggested.
It has also indicated the structure would at first be temporary – but would still be ready to receive its first 60 children by September 2026, the opening date originally planned.
Meanwhile, as the LDRS have previously charted, there is still no indication of when two schools earmarked for the rapidly-expanding North West Preston area will be built. Those facilities were envisioned in the 2017 masterplan for the development of 5,500 homes in that location across a 20-year period – but concrete plans for the new classrooms are yet to materialise.
Land is, however, reserved for the new schools as part of housing estates planned in the area – one, an approved 200-home development north of Tabley Lane; and the other, a proposed 430-dwelling scheme currently under consideration on land between Sidgreaves Lane and William Young Way.
Elsewhere, several other existing Preston primary schools are undergoing expansions – including Cottam Primary and Broughton-in-Amounderness Church of England Primary.
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