The new school was described as fantastic and long overdue
Plans to build a brand new Mosslands School have moved forward with building work to take place over three years. This is despite a report on the development coming under fire for being “sloppy.”
Wirral Council successfully applied to the Department for Education for funding to rebuild Mosslands High School due to its “very poor condition.” Riverside Primary School was also awarded funding in 2022.
The redevelopment of the school will see the new building take up part of Wallacre playing field which sits south east of the school’s current location. This is because building the new school within its current location would mean a temporary school on Wallacre would stop community access to a popular walking route for 40 months.
READ MORE: Council to ask government for bailout of £20m as costs go upREAD MORE: Two shopping centres bought by council are now making £100,000 less than they were before
The government agreed to fund and deliver the rebuild but Wirral Council needed to spend £3m bringing sports pitches back into use to offset this loss and relocate a footpath. Two sites at Cross Lane and Wallacre currently have ongoing issues with flooding in the area with work needing to be taken to tackle this.
However plans to create car parking off Cross Lane to go along with “a fully usable open space area for multiple sports provisions” came under criticism by councillors. This is because the area was labelled community green space under the council’s draft Local Plan following a petition signed by 2,740 people.
Wallasey councillor Ian Lewis said the report was “quite sloppy” and “the basics were wrong” including failing to mention the Cross Lane land was protected green space under the draft policy. He also said local councillors had not been told about plans off Cross Lane before the meeting.
Cllr Lewis said the new school plans were fantastic and the new school was long overdue but felt there were too many errors in the report, adding: “People nowhere near the school are now faced with the prospect of a car park that they haven’t been consulted about or made aware of.”
Similar concerns were raised by other councillors, with council deputy leader, Cllr Jean Robinson, wanting assurances as the council’s draft Local Plan is under review. The plans for a new school were praised and the money was approved by the council’s Policy and Resources committee on December 11 given the potential risks to the new school funding if the project was delayed.
However any changes that could affect the draft Local Plan will be reviewed by leading councillors as well as all three Wallasey councillors in light of the concerns.
