Middlesbrough: School places shortage fears sparked by delays

Delays to the building of a new school have left staff and pupils in a temporary location since 2020

Delays in the building of a new school have sparked fears Middlesbrough could be left short of secondary school places.

It had been hoped Outwood Riverside, currently in temporary premises on Russell Street, would move to a purpose built site in Middlehaven in 2023.

But earlier this year the completion date was pushed back to 2026.

The government has been asked to "expediate the process".

A letter to the education secretary - signed by Labour MP for Middlesbrough Andy MacDonald and town councillors - says children "desperately need the new school before 2026".

Plans for a 900-place secondary school was supported by Middlesbrough Council in 2018.

Outwood Academy Riverside opened in temporary accommodation in September 2020 which it was hoped would be for just three years.

A year later the Department for Education (DfE) confirmed the new school would be ready by September 2023.

But there were delays to the project because of the pandemic and a DfE contract to build the school which had to be re-tendered.

'Situation unsustainable'

The letter said the situation had left the school, which is over-capacity, "operating out of temporary accommodation for twice as long as originally intended".

It added Middlesbrough Council had been left "potentially in breach of its statutory sufficiency duty", unable to meet future demand for school places.

The authority said it had been working with the DfE to identify another temporary site for the school but none had been agreed.

Middlesbrough Council's deputy mayor Philippa Storey said at one point the DfE wanted to create a school on a car park site close to the A66.

"They wanted to build a school of modular classrooms on a car park, which is used for match day parking, about two months ago and we told them that was completely unacceptable," she said.

The letter warned the "current situation is unsustainable" and called for a second temporary site to be identified "as quickly as possible" to be able to welcome students by next September, amid fears 200 students could be forced to travel "out of the area" for school.

The DfE has been contacted for a comment