Crisis over school places looms
Secondaries shortage may be ‘acute’ in next five years
ASHORTAGE of secondary school places across the Valley could become acute in the next five years with housebuilding targets driving up demand, it is feared.
Lancashire County Council figures reveal that nearly 700 new secondary school places will be needed by 2022 – and all but two of the borough’s secondary schools are already at full capacity.
School bosses say the demand is being driven by more children attending primary schools and the projected impact of new housing developments.
Fearns High School in Stacksteads and All Saints CE in Rawtenstall are the only secondary schools not at full capacity, with Fearns the only one with spaces still available in year seven (the first year of high school).
The figures, released through the Freedom of Information Act, also show how 11 of the 28 Rossendale primary schools are already above net capacity, with many others full in several of their year groups.
The Valley is currently facing a government requirement of 2,120 new homes over a 10-year period, even after lobbying achieved a significant cut from earlier targets set out in the borough’s local plan.
Rossendale council leader Alyson Barnes said the shortage of secondary school places is a ‘very real issue’ for the borough and that there is ‘not enough infrastructure’ in place to support government housing targets.
Coun Barnes said: “It’s a very real issue for us and it’s all part and parcel of the concerns that are being expressed around the Local Plan and the level of house development in the borough.
“We clearly don’t have enough infrastructure to support some of that activity.
“The key issues are GP provision, access to doc- tors and access to schools. I know that they are under capacity at Fearns at the moment but it is an issue across the board.
“They have been feeling it at primary schools for a while now and it’s all bubbling through.”
County hall bosses said there are 4,271 secondary school pupils in Rossendale, however this will jump by 16 per cent to an estimated 4,953 in the next five years.
Schools currently at full capacity might have to expand in order to accommodate the extra demand.
Gill Middlemas, headteacher of Whitworth Community High School, said: “It’s great that the Rossendale Valley is becoming such a popular place to live, but we definitely need to expand school provision - and local services in general - in order to best meet the needs of Rossendale’s young people now and in the future.
“The demand for places at Whitworth Community High School continues to grow rapidly and this year we had 43 families who went on the waiting list for places in [ Year 7] - reflecting the level of home building locally and the growth in the number of children coming through our local primary schools.
“Our present school buildings are at maximum capacity, but our school site certainly offers scope for further development to accommodate addi- tional students and we have expressed our interest in expansion to LCC.”
County Councillor Susie Charles, cabinet member for schools, said they will monitor the situation on an ongoing basis.
She said: “The county council has a statutory duty to ensure that we have the right number of school places and our officers have a very good track record of doing that.
“We use a range of data to plan, based on historical levels of population growth, migration and other factors.
“The latest School Place Provision Strategy shows that after a period of falling numbers, the demand for secondary places is now rising across the county.
“This is happening in Rossendale, where the figures reflect that more children are attending primary schools, together with the projected impact of new housing developments that are planned for the next five years.”