Play field worry may block Bentham school plan (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Play field worry may block Bentham school plan

10:55am Thursday 13th January 2011 in High and Low Bentham news

A SIX-year plan for a new school which would unite pupils in a Dales town faces an uncertain few weeks.

The £3 million grant for a new school in Bentham, bringing 150 pupils from Low and High Bentham together under one roof, is ring-fenced until April 1 – but no-one knows what will happen to the money if the project is delayed after that.

With only 11 weeks to go, the proposals had another set back this week as Bentham Town Council said it was ‘worried’ about revised plans and refused to give them their full support.

At a meeting in Bentham Town Hall, they claimed issues still surrounded the proposed playing field– which was not big enough for year six pupils.

Sport England have discussed the issue with Jacobs, North Yorkshire County Council’s property consultants, who said the area could be expanded but councillors said were unconvinced that this could happen.

Another worry was parking. The Highways Agency has not yet given its support to plans due to their view that safe pick up and drop off space could be jeopardised in extreme weather.

Deputy town council chairman Tony Burton said: “We only have one shot at getting this right and so we have to make sure these plans work.”