Planners lead fight to bar 'school in the park' plan

County education chiefs want to build a new school for Bacup St Saviour's in Moorlands Park next to the present children's playground.

The £1.3 million building would take up 70 per cent of the park and wipe out the sunken ornamental garden.

Rossendale Council has been asked for its views but the decision will be made by the county council.

Local planners are advising the council to object strongly to the scheme which they say flies in the face of the Rossendale District Local Plan, adopted following a government inspection in 1995. The Local Plan designates Moorlands Park as a greenland and recreation area which must be protected.

Chief Planning Officer Philip Cunliffe tells councillors in a report to the planning sub-committee on Wednesday that the government inspector who approved the Local Plan ruled out Moorlands Park as a site for a new school.

Mr Cunliffe adds that children attending a school in Moorlands Park would face considerable traffic hazards because of the need to cross the busy New Line road to get to and from school.

Cars and service vehicles visiting the school would be forced to use Stubbylee Lane, a narrow single-track lane with no pavement.

Mr Cunliffe warns in his report: "The suitability of Stubbylee Lane to take service and staff traffic has to be questioned."

The planning department is backing a derelict mill site on the other side of New Line as a more suitable spot for a primary school.

The former Ross Mill site is already owned by the county council and has no planning restrictions.

Mr Cunliffe adds that even without public consultation about the plan he has received 10 letters of objection to the Moorlands Park scheme which he has passed on to the county council.

Objections include loss of a public amenity, traffic dangers, loss of mature trees and pedestrian safety.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.