78% in an independent poll said build Saddleworth School on the existing site in Uppermill(source: Saddleworth School Poll on Saddleworth News) 90% of those asked are signing our door to door petition |
Over 3000 people have signed a door to door petition asking for the EFA and OMBC to build new Saddleworth School on the existing site in Uppermill and it's growingCome and JOIN THEM
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Education Funding Agency Feasibility Study
On Friday 30th January 2015, the Education Funding Agency (EFA) released their feasibility study to those members of the public who requested access.
The Save Diggle Action Group believes that all the residents of Saddleworth and beyond, should be able to read their study, so here it is.
Initial reaction
We are still looking carefully through the report and its conclusions.
Some initial reactions are that the report confirms that the school can be built on any of the four sites and the difference in cost between all the sites is within 5% of the budgeted figure of £20m, well within the margin of error of the calculations.
The Diggle Pallet Works site (Option 2) comes out as the cheapest option apparently because of the subsidy from Oldham Council and the low cost allowed for preparing the site and constructing the playing fields.
The Environment Agency has not been contacted for their expert opinion into the EFA's intention to build a retaining structure (gabions) to the eastern side of Diggle Brook. This may be the EFA's solution to stop the fields at the site from flooding, but it will mean the river water will just flood further downstream into Uppermill and Greenfield.
No allowance appears to have been made for the fact that the playing fields will be in a flood plain and mitigation measures will need to be taken to guard against flooding downstream of the school site.
No traffic survey has been done beyond the superficial one carried out in 2009, which didn't recommend any changes to the access road into Diggle. The proposals for pedestrian safety are woefully inadequate.
There is mention that the Uppermill site does not meet current guidelines for the size of site for a secondary school, so is undersized. These are only guidelines. It wasn't viewed an issue for Waterhead Academy, where the 1500 pupil secondary school was successfully built on a much smaller plot of 6.47 acres, than the one in Uppermill.
We will be raising these issues and asking further questions of the EFA in the next few days.
Feasibility study for the four site options for new Saddleworth School
PSBP - Saddleworth School - Feasibility Study
Saddleworth School - Frequently Asked Questions
Site Options
Option 1 : Diggle Greenfield Site (or the Diggle "front site")
Option 2 : Diggle Pallet Works Site (or the Diggle "back site")
Option 3 : Uppermill Existing Location Site (building on existing school footprint)
Option 4 : Uppermill Playing Field Site (building school on the back playing field)
Feasibility study - Appendices
- Appendix 1 - 1.1 Memorandum of Understanding Signed
- Appendix 1 - 1.2 Programme for feasibility
- Appendix 1 - 1.3 Facilities Management Letter (10th October 2013)
- Appendix 1 - 1.4 OMBC Section 151 Letter (post Dec 2014)
- Appendix 2 - 2.1 Education Brief
- Appendix 2 - 2.2 School Curriculum Analysis
- Appendix 2 - 2.3 Secondary PSBP Schedule of Accommodation tool
- Appendix 2 - 2.4 Adjacencies Diagram
- Appendix 3 - 3.1 Diggle Greenfield Site Plan
- Appendix 3 - 3.2 Diggle Pallet Site Plan
- Appendix 3 - 3.3 Uppermill Existing Location Site Plan
- Appendix 3 - 3.4 Uppermill Playing Fields Site Plan
- Appendix 3 - 3.5 Report on Title (22nd July 2014)
- Appendix 3 - 3.6 Annexures to Title Report - Public Search Documents
- Appendix 4 - 4.1 Design Option 1 Diggle Greenfield Site Plan
- Appendix 4 - 4.2 Design Option 2 Diggle Pallet Site Plan
- Appendix 4 - 4.3 Design Option 3 Uppermill Existing Location Site Plan
- Appendix 4 - 4.4 Design Option 4 Uppermill Playing Field Site Plan
- Appendix 4 - 4.5 Design Option 1 Letter of Comfort from Planning Authority (21st November 2013)
- Appendix 4 - 4.6 Design Option 2 Letter of Comfort from Planning Authority (18th September 2014)
- Appendix 4 - 4.7 Design Option 1 Email from Sport England (19th February 2014)
- Appendix 4 - 4.8 Design Option 2 Email from Sport England (29th July 2014)
- Appendix 4 - 4.9 Design Option 3 Letter from Sport England (4th September 2014)
- Appendix 4 - 4.10 Design Option 4 Letter from Sport England (4th September 2014)
- Appendix 5 - 5.1 ICT Equipment Summary (26th July 2013 - information mostly redacted)
- Appendix 6 - 6.1 Costings Option 1 Diggle Greenfield
- Appendix 6 - 6.2 Costings Option 2 Diggle Pallet Works
- Appendix 6 - 6.3 Costings Option 3 Uppermill Existing Location Site
- Appendix 6 - 6.4 Costings Option 4 Uppermill Playing Fields
- Appendix 7 - 7.1 Feasibility Option Review
- Appendix 8 - 8.1 Risk Register
Feasibility study - Surveys
Diggle surveys - Priority Schools Building Programme (PSBP)
- Geoenvironmental Desk Study - Oct 2013
- Ground Investigation - Nov 2013
- Site Investigation Part 1 - Aug 2013
- Site Investigation Part 2 - Aug 2013
- Landfill Gas Survey - Nov 2013
- Acoustic Survey (Option 1 Greenfield Site) - Oct 2013
- Acoustic Survey (Option 2 Pallet Works Site) - Aug 2014
- Bat Survey - Aug 2014
- Breeding Bird Survey - June 2014
- Habitat Survey (Option 1 Greenfield Site) - Oct 2013
- Habitat Survey (Option 2 Pallet Works Site) - Sept 2014
- Great Crested Newt Survey - Jun 2014
- Flood Risk Assessment - Oct 2014
- Utility - BT - Jul 2013
- Utility - CATelecom - Jul 2013
- Utility - Electric - Jul 2013
- Utility - Environment Agency - Jul 2013
- Utility - Instalcom Ltd - Jul 2013
- Utility - Land Mark Map - Jul 2013
- Utility - Land Mark Order - Jul 2013
- Utility - Land Mark Status Report - Jul 2013
- Utility - Linesearch - Jul 2013
- Utility - National Grid UK Gas Distribution - Jul 2013
- Utility - Network Rail - Jul 2013
- Utility - United Utilities - Jul 2013
- Utility - Virgin Media - Jul 2013
- Topographical Drawing 1
- Topographical Drawing 2
- Topographical Drawing 3
- Topographical Drawing 4
- Topographical Drawing 5
- Topographical Drawing 6
- Topographical Drawing 7
- Topographical Drawing 8
- Topographical Drawing 9
- Topographical Drawing 10
Diggle surveys - Building Schools for the Future Programme (BSF)
- Site Investigation - July 2010
- Desktop Site Investigation - Jan 2009
- Traffic Assessment - March 2009
- Traffic Assessment - March 2009 - Appendix A Junction Stats - Huddersfield Road - Factory Access Road 1
- Traffic Assessment - March 2009 - Appendix A Junction Stats - Huddersfield Road - Factory Access Road 2
- Traffic Assessment - March 2009 - Appendix A Junction Stats - Standedge Road - Wool Road
- Traffic Assessment - March 2009 - Appendix B Walking catchments
- Traffic Assessment - March 2009 - Appendix F Accident plot
Uppermill surveys
- Geoenvironmental Desk Study - Sept 2014
- Site Investigation - Nov 2014
- Asbestos Survey - Feb 2009
- Breeding Bird Survey - June 2014
- Preliminary Ecological Appraisal - Oct 2014
- Utility - BT - Aug 2014
- Utility - Electric - Aug 2014
- Utility - Electric Response Letter - Aug 2014
- Utility - Electric Receipt - Jun 2014
- Utility - Gas - Aug 2014
- Utility - Linesearch - Aug 2014
- Utility - Virgin Media - Aug 2014
- Utility - Water and Sewerage - Aug 2014
- Utility - Site Boundary
- Topographical Drawing