NORTON councillors have raised concerns over plans to expand the town’s primary school to a second site when proposals had been made for a completely new school.

North Yorkshire County Council is holding a public consultation to consider an additional school at Brooklyn, in Langton Road, after pupil numbers rose by more than 100 in the last four years.

 

• School’s split-site plan backed by community>>

 

However, town councillors questioned why plans for a new school had not been explored when informal talks took place with a potential developer.

 

York Press: Coun David Lloyd-Williams

Councillor David Lloyd-Williams said: “Has the county council been made aware of the position of the Neighbourhood Plan, which has selected a site in the Scarborough Road and Beverley Road area as the best one for development and another school?

“The local authority should be able to see that the time has come and we need another primary school, but they have taken the wrong direction.”

Coun Lloyd-Williams said the county council should have also considered the traffic problems, which would be generated by the second site.

“This is a totally irresponsible thing to do and will effect the safety of children,” he said.

“It is an extremely busy road, especially at certain times of the day, when coaches are coming up and down and parents collecting their children.

He added: “It appears that they are just going through the motions rather than a proper consultation process which I think is grossly wrong.”

 

York Press: LIB-DEM CANDIDATE: Di Keal.

Councillor Di Keal said: “My concern if we have a split site is the dangers posed to people going from one site to another and I also share the concerns that it may jeopardise proposals by another developer who is keen to build a new school in the town. It will take longer, but it is a better option than a split-site school.”

Mayor Councillor Ray King said it appeared a decision had already been made on an additional site.

“If the county council really wanted feedback we should have been consulted from the outset,” he said.

“It appears there are serious highway issues to me with the Brooklyn site and that it may impact on future developers in Norton.”

County Councillor Elizabeth Shields, who attended the meeting, said it was very sad the situation had reached this point.

“The county council should have produced a new school years ago, but time after time the district council was consulted over requests for extra Portacabins to provide an additional classroom on the site until we said no more,” she said.

“As a result they are putting forward these plans for a second site, which is very sad but I genuinely hope they will make the best of it.”

The consultation runs until Friday, with a decision expected in March.

If approved, a planning application would be submitted in the summer with work scheduled to start on the new school site in 2016.

For more information, Go to northyorks.gov.uk/nortonpupilplaces