£58m plans to rebuild school set to be approved

Mosslands School is due to be completely re-built

Plans to rebuild an entire Merseyside school are set to be given the green light next week.

Mosslands School in Wallasey, Wirral, was one of two earmarked to be rebuilt in 2022 with funding from the Department for Education and will cost just under £58 million.

Wirral Council officers are asking councillors to approve the development at a planning committee meeting on 23 October.

Headteacher Adrian Whiteley had previously described the project as "the best thing that will have happened in Wallasey for a long, long time".

Parts of the current school were first built in 1952 and Mr Whiteley previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service this was with a 40 year life span.

Leaking roofs, drafty windows and cracks in the building are part of a host of issues caused by buildings that are well past their prime.

'State-of-the-art'

The redevelopment includes a new school building, a new theatre, two sports halls and fitness suite, netball courts, several sports pitches including a full sized county level pitch, alongside an engineering centre and facilities for children with complex needs.

Better insulated buildings, solar panels, and a ground source heat pump are expected to save at least £160,000 in running costs.

If approved, pupils will move into the new school in 2027 while improvements to sports pitches in the area will be finished by 2028.

The plans have the full support of Wallasey councillor Ian Lewis, who said the development would reduce traffic issues in the area, improve local playing pitches, rebuild a football pavilion, and improve the environment around the school.

A council report said: "The development will deliver a state-of-the-art educational facility of an appropriate scale, and a high standard of design, which would promote sustainability, replacing an existing school which is no longer fit for purpose, in terms of its state of repair, facilities, and energy efficiency."

Three residents wrote letters of complaint about lack of green space and "overdevelopment", as well as increased anti-social behaviour.