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A South Ribble secondary school described by its headteacher as being “designed for a different age” is to be demolished and replaced.
Councillors have given the green light to long-awaited plans to rebuild Penwortham Girls High School – but the project will still need the nod from the government because of a wrangle over playing fields.
It is hoped the new facility – on the same Cop Lane plot as the existing school – will be open by the end of next year, with staff numbers set to be boosted to 92 full-time-equivalent roles, up from the current 72.
Read more: Brindle Gregson Lane Primary School becomes an academy
The development and demolition will take place in phases and a condition of the planning permission granted this week by South Ribble Borough Council’s planning committee aims to minimise the impact of the scheme on the busy local road network.
Deliveries to the site – located close to the town’s Tesco branch and on the same road as Cop Lane Primary School – will be allowed only between 9am and 2.30pm and from 3.30pm until 5pm on weekdays, in order to avoid school start and finish times and the morning and evening rush hours.
It is almost two years since the 800-pupil establishment – which opened 70 years ago and is the only non-selective, non-fee paying girls’ school in Lancashire – was added to the Department for Education’s nationwide school rebuilding programme.
However, the blueprint since drawn up for the new building has attracted opposition from Sports England, because it involves the loss of a small section of playing field – and the area that remains will not be open for public use outside of school hours. That means Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner will now get the final say over the plans.
Headteacher Sharon Hall told planning committee members that there was a growing gulf between the school’s ‘outstanding’ Ofsted rating and the environment in which pupils and teachers are operating.
“The building we currently occupy was built with a vision of 1954 in mind. This project represents a wonderful opportunity for our school and will provide current and future students with access to up-to-date and innovative facilities across the whole curriculum.
“For some time, we have battled to provide this experience with out-of-date facilities that were designed for a different age and have no consideration for…modern methods of teaching and learning, [nor] the impact on the environment.
“We currently have small classrooms, no sports hall, very narrow corridors and curriculum areas that are spread around the school,” Ms. Hall explained, adding that the rebuild would ensure a “bright future” for future generations of pupils.
A sports hall and new themed curriculum spaces will be incorporated within the generally more spacious new school, which does not have a sixth form.
The committee heard that the facility – which will come in the form of a pair of part-two and part-three-storey buildings, laid out in a quadrangle arrangement – will shift the school to the south of the site, pushing it further away from properties on Alcester Avenue, but to within 43 metres of a property on Poplar Drive.
The construction area will be segregated from the existing school, which is provisionally earmarked for demolition during the October half term and Christmas holiday periods in 2025. The aim is for the entire project to be completed by March 2026.
Under the plans, an additional 20 parking spaces will be provided, along with 10 taxi drop-off bays.
Thirteen people objected to the proposal – raising concerns including its impact on traffic and the privacy of nearby residents – but 38 locals sent letters of support for the project.
The scheme was broadly welcomed by the committee, with one of its members – Cllr Haydn Williams – noting that the longstanding presence of a school on the site meant neighbours were not being asked to accept “a massive new building”.
Sport England’s objection to the new school hinged on the fact that just over 700 square metres of the near 36,000 square metres of school playing fields on the plot would be lost – and that there would be no public access to what remained.
Committee member Mary Green described both prospects as “sad”. However, Cllr Williams said the reduction amounted to just a two percent loss of playing area – which he considered “virtually nothing” – and the meeting also heard there was currently no option for the public to use the playing fields even as they stand now.
Council planning officer Debbie Roberts said while such access might be considered in future, the cost of the security and additional maintenance required would have to come out of the school’s own budget – making it unaffordable at the moment.
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