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 growing

Come and JOIN THEM
Sign our online petition TODAY

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

Feasibility study - Surveys

Diggle surveys - Priority Schools Building Programme (PSBP)

Diggle surveys - Building Schools for the Future Programme (BSF)

Uppermill surveys