FORMER Brookside star Simon O’Brien has attacked an idea by Mayor Joe Anderson to rebuild St Julie’s school on a green space in the heart of Woolton village.
It follows a surprise announcement by the Mayor last night that he has shelved a proposal to relocate the former Notre Dame convent school across the village to a site next to Roman Catholic St Francis Xavier's in Beaconsfield Road.
There was jubilation at a crowded public meeting in the village last night when neighbours waging the Battle of Woolton Hill were told of the Mayor’s change of heart.
But while the Woolton Hill residents are in a celebratory mood, across the award-winning village things are far from rosy.
One of the favoured sites mentioned by Mayor Anderson is a stretch of open space facing Woolton High Street. It adjoins St Julie’s, but provides a massive green buffer between the school and the High Street.
The prospect of the school going there, instead of Beaconsfield Road, saw the first salvo in what could be a new Woolton war, being fired by O’Brien.
Attacking the Keep Woolton Safe Campaigners, the actor blasted: “Having just attended the meeting with Mayor Anderson I am disgusted at your organisation. I have seen NIMBYism many times before but you take the biscuit. To stand and thank the Mayor ‘for making the right decision’ at the end of a meeting when he had just announced building on a piece of green space which is as old as the village itself beggars belief.
“I was not directly affected by the plans to relocate to SFX but went along to show support for other residents, only to leave appalled by the smug room full of narrow minded fools.”
Simon O'BrienCampaigner Pauline Roy said: “I think this attack from Simon is most unfair. From the very start we have taken the view a large school on the Beaconsfield site would be a disaster from a safety point of view. The roads around the Beaconsfield site could not cope with thousands of students and staff.
“When I spoke to Mayor Anderson he told me he had been on a site visit and had concluded the site would not be the right one for St Julie’s. In fact he said he had sleepless nights over the site because he was so worried about the potential dangers.
“The site in the High Street was mentioned at the meeting, but not by me or any of our committee. We were all taken aback when the Mayor announced at the start of the meeting that the plans had been shelved. We were just stunned. We had spent three days prepared for the meeting, expecting there to be a hard fought battle.
“To call us NIMBYs is most unfair. It would seem there will be a new campaign over this alternative site.”
In a statement today Liverpool City Council said: “Alternative plans are to be drawn up to relocate St Julie’s Catholic High School in Liverpool.
“As part of the £169 million Liverpool Schools Investment Programme, it had been proposed that the school move from its existing site on Speke Road to the former Lower Lee Special School on Beaconsfield Road in Woolton – next to SFX Catholic College.
Alternatives
“Mayor Joe Anderson met with local residents and told them that, after taking a detailed look at the proposals, he has listened to their concerns over traffic and decided that the planning application should not be submitted.
"Mayor Anderson said: 'We are committed to holding genuine and meaningful consultation, and after a close look at this proposal following concerns raised by residents, I have decided it would be best to look at alternatives.
'This was only ever a proposal, and having now studied it, I have concluded that it is not the right location for the school.
'I would like to reassure parents and pupils at St Julie’s that this does not affect my Mayoral pledge, and I am committed to finding a new site for the school, which we will announce and consult on in due course.
'I won’t play politics with the future education of pupils in this city and am committed to working with the school and local residents to come up with a workable solution.'”
Lib Dem Councillor Richard Kemp said: "It is only four weeks since we were told that there were no other options available for the school's redevelopment. Local residents came up with at least two and the Mayor has put another option on the table.
"This is no way to run a planning service and it is no way to run an education service and I will be asking for a full report to go to the Mayoral Select Committee about how the council has spent a year backing a horse that was fit only for the knackers yard."
