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20
Mar
New Knaresborough primary school delay 'not causing concern'
Delays to the opening of a new £6 million primary school in Knaresborough are "not causing concern", according to a council officer.
North Yorkshire Council announced plans in 2020 to build schools in Northallerton and Manse Farm in Knaresborough to serve pupils from new housing developments.
Northallerton's opened last year but work has not even begun at Manse Farm.
The council says issues with “third parties” preventing the transfer of land are causing the delay.
The school, which will be run by Elevate Multi Academy Trust, will provide 210 places for pupils, with the capacity to be expanded to 420.
In a report before the council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area committee this morning, the authority said it was “encouraging” those organisations to resolve issues to move the project forward.
It said:
The council continues to actively encourage the third parties to resolve the issues that are preventing the transfer of the school land to the council.
Only when this is achieved would the council be able to review and confirm its plans for the proposed school.
Councillors in Knaresborough have raised concern over the delay in the project. Cllr Matt Walker, who represents Knaresborough West on the council, told the Stray Ferret previously that the situation was “very unfair” on residents.
Cllr Matt Walker
Meanwhile, Cllr Monika Slater, the Liberal Democrat chair of the area committee, raised the issue of capacity for school places in the town at today's meeting.
Jon Holden, strategic planning officer at the council, said there was no concern over school places or delays in the project.
He said:
The situation in Knaresborough is that we still do have capacity at primary level. So the delays to the development of the school are not causing concern.
The £7 million Oakbridge Church of England Primary School in Northallerton welcomed its first pupils in September 2024.
However, the Knaresborough school has been delayed due to an overhead electric cable that runs across where the new school is due to be built.
The council added that a sub-station needed to be built on the land and the cable diverted before the site could be transferred to the authority.
In March last year, Amanda Newbold, assistant director for education and skills at North Yorkshire Council, told councillors the earliest the school could open is September 2026.
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