Cheshire East councillors have rubber-stamped a move to scrap plans to transform Flag Lane Baths into a community hub and seek permission to use the site for a school, writes Belinda Ryan.
The economy and growth committee was told the cost of the proposed community hub scheme, put forward by Always Ahead charity, has spiralled because of delays due to concerns about the building’s structure.
Much of the cash was coming from a Towns Fund grant but Always Ahead would be unable to meet the extra costs by the required deadline.
The committee agreed to withdraw funding from the scheme and to seek approval from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to reallocate the £3.3m to other projects in the Crewe Towns Fund programme.
These are the Youth Zone, Mill Street corridor, history centre public realm, pocket parks and the Cumberland arena.
The former baths, empty since 2016, is now expected to be bulldozed to make way for an alternative provision school.
Councillors are hoping the old façade can be retained as part of the new build.
Sally Ashworth, of children’s services, said the alternative provision school in Crewe could help up to 70 children who were struggling in mainstream education.
She said this would help them avoid going through the SEND process.
“We see lots of our children going into those independent special schools which have a high cost, and also moving out the area, so it’s keeping things local,” she said.
“We haven’t got alternative provision in Crewe registered, only our pupil referral unit, so it’s needed to avoid exclusions, but also to meet the needs of children before they escalate to the point where they might need a specialist school.
“We do need to prevent exclusion, because it totally changes the trajectory of young people’s lives dramatically, and lots of the young people that we see in our criminal justice system have been excluded, and that really throws your life off.”
Cllr Chris O’Leary (Sutton, Con) said he was supportive of the scheme.
“I think it’s important to say that children that are excluded generally have much poorer outcomes than children who are not excluded,” he said.
Cllr Ken Edwards (Bollington, Lab) said: “I’m delighted to see this project coming forward in Crewe, and I’m particularly supportive of the change for the Flag Lane Baths to alternative provision for children who get themselves into a situation where they require that support.”
Macclesfield councillor Fiona Wilson said it was disappointing the original scheme could not have gone ahead it was good the other schemes would benefit.
She added: “I think that also, from a Cheshire East point of view, we’re going to benefit massively from having additional special educational needs and alternative education provision.
“I share all the comments made by both officers and members about the importance of that, but the key thing is having that provision near to where the child or the family live.”
(Pic by Dave Bevis on creative commons licence)
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