School chaos

Former mayor and Liberal Democrat leader Coun Gordon Birtwistle has put down a motion calling for the authority to refuse a county council request to use part of Towneley Park as part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme.

And the bid, already backed by thousands of angry residents, could be supported by some ruling Labour councillors when it is discussed tomorrow night putting the proposed new Unity College in jeopardy.

Labour members have not yet been given a party line for the vote and are set to hold a private meeting before the full council sits.

As part of the £250million overhaul of secondary education in Burnley and Nelson, Lancashire County Council (LCC) proposes to replace the existing Towneley High School with Unity College.

However, for the new 1,050 place college to be built, LCC needs Burnley to sell it two strips of land it owns on the Lower Towneley Playing Fields. The county council owns the rest of the earmarked site.

Now Coun Birtwistle is to put forward the motion at tomorrow's (weds) full meeting of Burnley Council recommending the executive refuse to sell the land because of flooding and traffic concerns as well as the fact the county council will not consider alternative sites.

Although Labour is the ruling party with 21 members, if they support plans to sell the land they could be defeated if the 24 opposition councillors join forces and back Coun Birtwistle.

If defeated, Labour's decision-making executive could still go against the decision and decide to sell the land anyway.

But if the council refuses to sell the land then a potentially lengthy and expensive public inquiry would have to be held.

Coun Birtwistle, who also opposed plans to build one of the super schools on land off Rossendale Road because of traffic worries, today said he wanted to see the existing Towneley High site used for the new school and that blocking the sale would not delay the scheme.

He added LCC would have to serve a compulsory purchase order on Burnley Council for the site, which would lead to a public inquiry.

Coun Birtwistle said: "We are not against the provision of new schools in Burnley, we welcome the investment, but we think the sites at Towneley and Rossendale Road are ill-judged.

"We do not think the county council should build it there. The only way we can stop them is by refusing to sell them the land."

The BSF proposal, which would also see the existing Towneley High School turned into parkland, has caused uproar among residents. Two campaign groups - Fulledge Action Community Team and Towneley for the People - joined forces to fight the scheme and Burnley Council's cross-party development committee has called for the application to be referred to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Councillor Colette Bailey, who is in charge of parks at the council, said her Labour group would be staging a party meeting before the full council sat to discuss the motion.

She added: "We have discussed the Building Schools for the Future programme in many ways through development control and public meetings.

"We have to make sure it does not impact on the superb park structure we have got but we have not got a Labour line."

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "Various sites were considered for Unity College, before the present one was chosen.

"Should Burnley Borough Council decide to take such a decision, we would look to meet with them to consider Unity College and options for the Building Schools for the Future programme."

Coun Sharon Wilkinson, leader of the BNP, said the party had not made a decision whether to back the motion but opposed new buildings.

Conservative leader, Coun Peter Doyle, said he was not sure how members of his party would vote but he personally agreed with not selling the land.