With a planning application to build 48 townhouses and 38 apartments on the site of the former Sale Magistrates Court off Ashton Road in Sale, Trafford Conservatives are asking questions as to which schools in the borough have capacity to accept additional pupils. The announcement comes after an application to develop another 184 homes in the Sale West area, around 100 homes in Sale town centre and forms part of Trafford’s housing target of 18,546 homes by 2037. While land has been identified to build those homes, Conservatives are asking where the new schools will be built to accommodate the additional pupils that the homes will bring.
Cllr. Thomas Carey, Shadow Lead Member for Education at Trafford Council said regarding the issue “Conservatives welcome the regeneration of town centres and other brownfield sites to provide much needed homes and we welcome the fact that a proportion of the new homes in the pipeline will be sold on an affordable basis. What we, and no doubt families wanting to move into the area are concerned about however is that due to the popularity of Trafford schools, demand on school places is already exceptionally high and capacity in school places in not catching up with demand.
“In the Sale area for example, there are currently no places available in any school in Sale either in the Primary or Secondary Sector as every school in Sale is over-subscribed. Worryingly, there are no provisions for additional school places and the Labour council administration knows this – so where will these children go for their education?
The responsibility of providing school places lies not with our schools and academies but with the Council. As a Local Education Authority, the Council are responsible for coordinating the applications for school places received from the parents of all children living within Trafford. We have serious worries over Labour’s lack of concern for school places for pupils both in the Primary and Secondary sectors in Sale and across the borough. The council needs to address the situation now before more homes are built and more families become angry that their children will no longer will have access to their local school.”
