City of York Council is seeking residents’ views on options for creating additional primary school places to serve the South Bank area.

Although no part of Dringhouses & Woodthorpe ward falls within the catchment area for Scarcroft primary or Knavesmire primary – the schools which serve the South Bank area – this consultation is of interest to us because one of the options under consideration is to build a new 315-place primary school, with an 80-place nursery, on land behind The Square and The Grove, off Tadcaster Road.

A report to the council’s Executive on 28 January (see http://tinyurl.com/southbank-primary ) recommended that this option not be pursued, for the following reasons:

• the Wilberforce Trust, who own the land, informed the council that they were not wanting to sell this land at present
• the location was not suitable as the site is some distance from the South Bank area
• there would be significant additional cost because the requirement of having to purchase the land

The report to Executive recommended that the need for additional places be addressed through the building of an annex to Scarcroft primary school on land on the Millthorpe school site. Following representations that were made on this issue, on 11 February the Executive agreed to a period of consultation on options. Information on the consultation can be found at https://www.york.gov.uk/micklegateschoolplaces

The option of building a school to serve the South Bank area on land behind the The Square and The Grove is not one that we support, for the reasons stated above. But we would like to hear your views, so please do get in touch if you’d like to let us know your thoughts on this – email Stephen in the first instance via cllr.sfenton@york.gov.uk

The current consultation closes on 11 March. Comments can be submitted via e-mail to micklegateschoolplaces@york.gov.uk or by post to Micklegate School Places, City of York Council School Services, West Offices, Station Rise, York, YO1 6GA.