Academy site options unveiled (From The Advertiser Series)

Academy site options unveiled

12:00pm Friday 26th June 2009

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POSSIBLE sites for proposed academy schools in Consett and Stanley have been revealed.

Durham County Council wants to build one academy for 1,500 11- to 16-year-olds and some post-16 students in each of the two towns.

The council is consulting on building the Consett academy at Belle Vue, beside the leisure centre, between Villa Real Road and Ashdale Road; or at Crookhall, between the Consett bypass, Gloucester Road and Delves Lane.

The authority says there is only one suitable site for the Stanley academy: the former King’s Head sports field, off High Street/ Chester Road.

The academies would replace Moorside Community Technology College, Consett Community Sports College, Stanley School of Technology and Greencroft Business and Enterprise Community School.

Parents and carers at the schools affected are offered the chance to air their views on the options.

But the consultation has already divided opinion.

Coun Watts Stelling, a Derwentside Independent for Leadgate and Medomsley, said access to the Crookhall site would be a nightmare and if the Belle Vue plan meant building on green space, it would cause uproar.

“The site that’s quite obvious to everyone is the Genesis site,” he said.

Coun Owen Temple, a Liberal Democrat for Consett North, said he was at a loss to understand why the steelworks site was not part of the consultation.

The academies are among three proposed by the council, in a £75m rebuilding scheme.

The other would be in Durham.

Each would be co-sponsored by the council and an educational body. In the case of Durham and Consett, this would be a Durham University-led consortium.

In Stanley, it would be New College, Durham.

The academies could be open by September 2012.

The closing date for responses is Friday, July 3.

For more details, visit durham.gov.uk

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