Construction of new Cheltenham high school gets underway next month
Parents now have six weeks to apply for their children to go to the new school in Leckhampton
Last updated 23rd Sep 2020
Parents wishing to send their kids to the new £30million secondary school in Cheltenham next year have six weeks to do so.
The first sods on green fields where The High School Leckhampton will be be built were cut today (September 22), marking the start of construction of the new school.
Gloucestershire County Council says the school is needed to solve the problem of a lack of secondary school places in the town, which received planning consent in May.
The 900-pupil capacity school will be built on the countryside between Farm Lane and Kidnappers Lane, off the A46 Shurdington Road ready for September 2022.
The deadline parents need to submit applications for secondary school places, including Cheltenham’s new secondary school, is October 31.
Plans to build a new teaching block at Balcarras School, in Charlton Kings which is also the new school’s sponsor, were submitted to Cheltenham Borough Council earlier this month.
The building will be used to teach the school’s first Year 7 pupils from September 2021 before they transfer into the new school the following year.
A legal challenge by a local resident is currently under way to seek remedy by adding tree screening to preserve the views of the Cotswold AONB, moving the all-weather astropitch in a new position and stop the removal of a public footpath.
Earlier this month Leckhampton and Warden Hill Parish Council agreed to oppose the judicial review and ask for the bid to be withdrawn with the vote split, and the majority of councillors supporting a review of environmental and landscape issues.
The plans show classrooms and outdoor areas will be built, including large grass playing fields, an astro-turf pitch, tennis courts, an outdoor area for table tennis, and a café with outdoor seating.
There will be a 450-seat main hall, parking space for 110 cars and space for 115 bicycles.
Councillor Patrick Molyneux said the authority has a “robust strong case” against any possible judicial review, adding “we just have to let it take its course”.
Speaking at the site where archaeologists were also digging up the land, Mr Molyneux (C, Sedbury) said:, cabinet member for economy, education and skills on the county council said: “This is the start of our very exciting new project, and that is the building of a 900-place school in Leckhampton.
“We have just cut our first sod of earth, and this is a school we need in the area.
“There is not much we want to say at the moment, we feel we have got a robust and strong case. We just have to let it take its course.
“We do have planning consent in place and we have a tight project timeline. We do want children to actually start next September, in 2021, so we need to get on with the project.”
Councillor Iain Dobie, who represents the Warden Hill and Leckhampton area on the county council, said: “This new school is very much needed, and has been needed for a number of years.
“Parents from this part of south Cheltenham have had to send their children quite a long way in some cases to get a secondary school place of their choice.
“That is particularly true of parents who live around Old Bath Road, and in some cases parents of those children have been offered places in Gloucester and right over the other side of town.”