Kings Leadership Academy, Bolton

Welcome to our public consultation page for the exciting proposals for King’s Leadership Academy’s new secondary school campus on land to the south of Freshfield Avenue, Bolton.

A planning application for these proposals is due to be submitted to Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council shortly, and we are providing you with the opportunity to view and comment in advance of the submission. The proposed development is being designed and constructed by the Elliott Group Ltd and funded by the Department for Education (DfE).

The Elliott Group, the DfE and the Academy value the input of the local community in developing the vision for the school and would welcome your comments on the proposed development. Details of how to comment are provided below.

THE PROPOSAL

The proposed development will deliver a new 900 place secondary school building and provide a much-needed modern teaching facility for pupils aged 11-16 in the Great Lever area.

The school, King’s Leadership Academy Bolton, which is run by the Great Schools Trust, opened within temporary accommodation on the site of the former Haywood Grammar School in September 2019. Subject to the granting of planning permission, it is anticipated that the Academy will move to its new campus in September 2022.

King’s mission is to develop in each of its students the academic skills, intellectual habits, qualities of character and leadership traits necessary to succeed at all levels and become successful citizens in tomorrow’s world. The proposed school will help realise these ambitions and improve the education of children within the Great Lever area. For more information on King’s Leadership Academy Bolton, a copy of their prospectus can be downloaded below.

A series of plans and computer-generated images of the new school campus are provided below. In summary, the new campus will comprise of a single two storey school building within the north east corner of the site; fronting onto Freshfield Avenue. Car parking will be provided to the front of the school building with external hard play areas, 2 new sports pitches and informal soft and hard landscaped areas to the rear of the school building and within the western part of the site.

The school building itself will house teaching spaces, dining areas and indoor sports facilities. The building is simple in form and will primarily be finished in a mixture of Rockpanel panelling and aluminium curtain walling that evoke the school’s branding. This is supplemented with red cedar boarding to the first floor of the teaching wings and Rockpanel Stones panelling in ‘Basalt Iron’ to the main hall space. The materials and colours are indicated on the elevations available below.

In designing the new school, the architects have worked closely with officers of the Council and have drawn inspiration from the existing industrial forms and strong presence of red brick within Bolton. At the same time the architects have also ensured that the building is modern, functional and sympathetic to the surrounding area. Critical to this, will be the retention of trees and planting along the boundaries of the site which will be supplemented with additional planting, especially along the Freshfield Avenue frontage, to provide screening and soften the development.

As well as providing a place for learning, King’s also intend to open the school to the wider community and plan to allow public use of certain facilities including the sports hall, playing pitches and some classrooms.

Vehicular and pedestrian access into the campus will be taken from Freshfield Avenue with a pickup and drop off area, dedicated staff car park and space for 100 bikes provided. The project’s transport consultants are working closely with Bolton Council highways officers in preparing a Transport Assessment. This assessment will address all traffic and transport matters, and through detailed junction capacity modelling, identify any necessary mitigation measures to ensure the proposals can be accommodated within the local area. The site is well located in respect of the school’s catchment area and it is anticipated that a large proportion of pupils will be able to walk, cycle or utilise the existing bus stops on Lever Edge Lane and Woodvale Avenue to travel to and from school. Walking and cycle routes are being assessed to ensure that safe access for pupils and staff can be achieved to and from the campus.  A school travel plan is also being prepared as part of the proposals and will set out various measures to discourage car use and promote sustainable travel habits.  

The new school building will be of modular construction. This construction method delivers a number of sustainability benefits as well as significantly reducing on-site construction time and disruption when compared to traditional methods. Subject to planning approval, it is anticipated that construction work on site will commence in February 2021 with the school opening in September 2022 for an initial cohort of 720 pupils before reaching its full capacity of 900 pupils in September 2023.

PROVIDING YOUR FEEDBACK

This project creates an opportunity to provide much needed educational facilities to this part of Bolton.

We would welcome any feedback you may have on the proposed development. Please send any comment you may have to jessica.knight@dppukltd.com who will log your comments and answer any questions you may have.

Alternatively, if you prefer not to use a computer, please feel free to post your comments to:

DPP, One Park Row, Leeds, LS1 5HN

We would appreciate your comments on or before the 28th July.

Once the planning application has been submitted, full details will be available on Bolton Council’s website and there will be a further opportunity to comment.

We look forward to receiving your comments on the proposed development.