Plans to replace school to be filed HELEN JOHNSON
APLANNING application to rebuild a primary school on a popular common in Heaton Mersey will be submitted next month.
The St John’s CofE Primary School building in Heaton Mersey is no longer fit for purpose, and is set to be rebuilt with the help of a government grant.
The school was built on the site of a former brick works and is slowly subsiding, so the new school must be built elsewhere.
The council is proposing to rebuild the school on land it owns at Priestnall Hey, a nearby common which is currently subject to a covenant which states it must only be used as open space.
Building can only go ahead if the covenant is removed.
The authority initially planned to decide whether or not to remove the covenant ahead of a planning application being submitted.
But now, in a change of plans, it has announced that it will only make a decision on the covenant AFTER the planning application has been decided.
The council says the reason is so it can ensure the public is involved in each stage of the process.
Comments already made by residents in response to an initial advert will now be held until after the planning application has been submitted by the Education Funding Agency in August.
The public will also be able to comment on the planning application.
A council spokeswoman said: “Before the council makes any decision about whether to make the Priestnall Hey land available for development the council will refresh the advert and take any further responses into account alongside the original feedback.
“There is much to consider regarding any new site, but also the current site should the school be relocated.
“We recognise the importance of access to good quality open space for the public and this will be given serious consideration within the process.”
If the plans go ahead, a new common would be created where the school currently stands.
Those in favour of the rebuild fear the longestablished school will be forced to close if it can’t go ahead.
Those against it say Priestnall Hey is a well used community asset and the covenant should not be changed.