THE Battle of Woolton Hill was taken to Mayor Anderson’s front door today. 

Villagers converged on Millennium House to protest about proposals to build a replacement St Julie’s School on a site adjoining the St Francis Xavier school on Beaconsfield Road.

They went home with the promise of a face-to-face meeting with the mayor within the next few weeks. 

Campaigner Pauline Roy was  given the chance to make a 15-minute speech to tell the mayor and his cabinet members why the proposed site in Beaconsfield Road, Woolton, will be a disaster for the village. 

The residents deny they are NIMBYs, saying there is a real fear that the concentrated chaos caused by several thousand pupils, the cars of their parents and hundreds of teachers will create a perilous safety issue. 

Calderstones

St Julie’s, formerly Notre Dame, currently sits at the opposite end of Woolton village, in Speke Road. The current proposal is to build a brand new school close to SFX, with an entrance onto Menlove Avenue.  The land that St Julie's currently sits on would be sold off to housing developers to fund the new build.

One proposal, currently on hold, is to take a slice off Calderstones Park - at the corner or Menlove Avenue and Yew Tree Road - to create a “drop and stride” point for parents on the school run. 

Locals fear such a scheme would mean hundreds of children being forced to cross the busy dual carriageway at peak times. 

One campaigner said: "Whether it comes up in the future, we just don't know." 

Ms Roy told Liverpool Confidential: "We welcome the scheme to rebuild our schools to provide high quality facilities for the children of Liverpool.  But anybody who knows the Woolton area well will realise the current proposal is totally unacceptable. 

“Even if they configure the site to create new entrances for SFX and St Julie's. it will mean more than 2,000 students and hundreds of staff from the two schools converging on what is an island site surrounded by busy road. 

The Woolton  Hill campaigners called for St Julie's to take-over Parklands school in Speke, which is to be closed down at the end of this term. Many of the students from Parklands will be switched to St Julie's.  

Moving for a temporary period to Speke would, they say, enable St Julie's to be rebuilt on its current site. 



Ms Roy said: "We spoke at length with Mayor Anderson, after we expected to have to remain silent because of the protocols. 

“He changed the meeting, of his own volition, to speak with us and has granted us a meeting with him - probably within the next two weeks. This is exactly what we wanted. 

“We just hope when we fully explain things to the mayor he will realise the points we are making."