Rosehill site confirmed for new secondary school

greenshaw-learning-trust-1The Greenshaw Learning Trust has welcomed the allocation in Sutton Council’s draft Local Plan of land at Rosehill Recreation Ground for a new secondary school.

On 6 December 2016 Sutton Council’s Housing, Economy and Business Committee approved the draft Local Plan that confirms the need for a second new secondary school in the borough and identifies the All Weather Pitch and part of the Sports Village at Rosehill for its location.

The Greenshaw Learning Trust has approval from the Government’s Department for Education (DfE) to open a new 8-form entry comprehensive secondary school with sixth form in Sutton, along with a base for secondary age children on the autistic spectrum.

Projections show that the Borough will need two new secondary schools in the coming years and Sutton Council is already working on plans for a new secondary school on land at the old Sutton Hospital site in Belmont.

In November 2014 Sutton Council identified two sites for new secondary schools – the disused All Weather Pitch at Rosehill Recreation Ground and land at the Sutton Hospital site. Having evaluated both sites, the Trust and DfE’s Education Funding Agency (EFA) concluded that the site at Sutton Hospital was too small, whereas the Rosehill site was suitable and was the preferred location for the Trust’s school. But in September 2015 Sutton Council said that the Rosehill site was not available because it wanted to see a school built at Sutton Hospital first.

Mike Cooper, Chair of the Greenshaw Learning Trust, said: “We are pleased that the Council has concluded that the Rosehill site is the best location for the second new secondary school the Borough needs.
We believe that it is a good location for the proposed new school, which can be built with minimal impact on the open parkland. The school and its students would benefit from close cooperation with the adjacent Sports Village and use of the recreation ground, which would continue to be open to the public.”

The Greenshaw Learning Trust will now be working with the DfE’s Education Funding Agency (EFA) and Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL), operators of the Sports Village, to bring forward proposals to establish a new secondary school on land at Rosehill Rec.

The proposals will be dependent on planning permission being granted and the necessary agreements being concluded between the Trust, the EFA, GLL and Sutton Council. Residents, recreation ground and sports village users and other interested groups will be informed and consulted throughout the process.

You can find out more about the Trust’s proposed new school on the Trust website at www.greenshawlearningtrust.org.uk

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