"CRACKPOT" plans to use fields at Otterspool as the site of the new Archbishop Blanch Secondary School have been thrown out, by city planners.
The decision comes after Mayor Joe Anderson said he had acted on locals' concerns. It was also arrived at in wake of a traffic study which fould that costs to alter the "death trap" Jericho Lane would prove prohibitive.
Liverpool City Council's controversial proposal, to move the city centre girls school to Otterspool, sparked a campaign in L17 over loss of the green space which is used by the community and by football teams at weekends.
And it was compounded by separate fears that Jericho Lane, a single carriageway and main artery to south Liverpool from the city centre, would piove lethal for pupils in its present format.
Archbishop Blanch
Now the council says measures to ease traffic around the proposed Aigburth site would prove toi costly for the scheme to be viable anyway, so it's back to the drawing board to find a new home for the successful CofE secondary.
“Following talks with the diocese, the school and ward councillors, the city council has removed Jericho Lane as an option and is to look at alternative sites to replace the school’s existing premises in Mount Vernon,” said a council statement.
Costs
“The council has taken on-board the views of the school, the local ward councillors and local residents, including concerns over traffic congestion and pupil safety if the new school was situated on Jericho Lane.”
It added: “A transport assessment was carried out to look at potential highway improvements which could have been made to alleviate traffic issues. However, it has been decided that it is not viable to carry out these improvements due to the associated costs.”
Football base on Jericho LaneMayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson added: “We have listened to what people have said, and now we’re acting on what they’ve told us."
Cash realised from the sale of the land of the present school, formerly Paddington Comprehensive, would be used in part to fund the new buildings, says the council.
“We are committed to identifying a suitable site for the new, 21st century Archbishop Blanch, and it’s right that we looked at Jericho Lane as a potential option," said Mayor Joe. “The council will now work with the diocese, school and ward councillors to identify alternative sites, as a matter of urgency.”
But Lib Dem Liverpool leader Councillor Richard Kemp claimed “thousands wasted” on the aborted plan may have resulted in delays, if not the shelving of the relocation plan altogether.
'Wasted'
“This was always a crackpot idea and would have not only built on the green wedge but would have been a death trap because of the high levels of traffic on the road,” he said.
“I am concerned that this idea could have got this far. Thousands will have been wasted on traffic and building studies for a development that was never viable. This may well affect the possibility of a new school for Archbishop Blanch and will certainly have led to delays over the building of a new school in another location.”
The U-turn comes less than a week after the Mayor's cabinet approved £10m proposals to sell-off the nearby Meadowlands, bordering Sefton Park, for high-band executive housing.
