Joy for Swinton as academy rebuild gets the green light
ROTHERHAM’S Swinton Academy is to be rebuilt with a new complex following years of uncertainty, the Government has announced.
The decision marks a major success for Rotherham politicians, who have been lobbying the Department for Education over the future of the school.
It had been earmarked for rebuilding but a previous Conservative Government scrapped the plans after coming to power 15 years ago - when the school was still called Swinton Comprehensive.
Over the summer, Rotherham councillors representing the area and MP John Healey have independently raised the issue, with councillors describing the premises as “a building in decline” when they contacted Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson over the situation.
That had led to enrolment for new pupils dropping and the sixth form closing.
However, it has now been confirmed the rebuilding programme is back on the agenda.
In a letter to Mr Healey, the secretary of state said a meeting had already taken place with representatives from Aston Community Educational Trust, which operates the school, and staff “to discuss the delivery of the project, including broad timescales, with an expectation that feasibility could commence early next year, subject to due diligence review”.
That meeting happened in July.
That is an advance on the previous timescale, dating from 2022, which suggested the project would start “at the earliest” in April 2027.
The letter to Mr Healey continues: “A project director and project manager have been allocated to the project and are contactable and available to the trust and local authority.
“Since the visit in July, work has started within the project team to undertake pre-feasibility activity, including further information collation and due diligence review, with the support of the trust.
“The team are actively engaged with the trust and other departmental officials to progress the project to enable feasibility stage to commence at the earliest opportunity.”
The announcement means the legacy of Michael Gove, who was the minister responsible for scrapping the rebuild plan when austerity cuts were introduce, should soon be overturned.
Austerity cuts have since proved highly controversial, with political arguments about the damage done to communities to save money, in an era where national debt in fact rose substantially under the Conservative administration.