Long Lane site in Aintree
LIVERPOOL Council will sell off land to pay for the next generation of schools, in a “trailblazing” £100m package it is hoped will transform education across the city.
The city council produced a £100m rescue plan in response to the axing in 2010 of the £350m Building Schools For The Future (BSF) scheme, which dashed plans for 26 city schools to be rebuilt or completely modernised.
Today, the Daily Post can reveal that, to help fund the package, school land will be sold to create “quality housing”.
The confirmation comes as education officials in the city predicted Liverpool will be held up as a “trailblazer authority”. Eight councils across the country have already been in touch with a view to hear more about its decision to build some of the secondaries in the city using an economical construction method known as EdVenture.
Also part of the masterplan is the rebuilding of St Julie’s Catholic high school using traditional methods and relocated with fellow Woolton secondary St Francis Xavier’s college on the latter’s Beaconsfield campus, with a shared sixth form.
Last night, council project manager Ron Rampling said the land St Julie’s leaves behind is intended, subject to formal agreement from the school’s trustees, to be sold for development – ideally “high quality housing”.
The same fate is intended for the adjacent Watergate gate building, a former special school now home to community activities and vocational-based courses.
Proceeds would be used to help fund St Julie’s new school.