A scheme to build a new temporary teaching block for one of Bolton’s newest and most popular schools has been given the go-ahead.

The plan will see a single-story block built to help accommodate children at Kings Leadership Academy on land just off Freshfield Avenue.

A town hall meeting last week heard how this comes ahead of building a new permanent site.

Sarah Myers, speaking in support of the bid, said: “The school currently operates from temporary facilities on Lever Edge Lane.”

She added: “A school management plan has been prepared which sets out how the school will operate successfully while construction takes place.”

The Bolton News: The plans were voted on at Bolton town hallThe plans were voted on at Bolton town hall (Image: Bolton Council)

Ms Myers told the meeting of the council’s planning committee that a temporary site was “urgently required” while building work on the permanent site takes place.

No objections were received from either people living nearby or from elected councillors about the proposal.

Kings Leadership Academy, part of the Great Schools Trust, first opened on its temporary site in 2019 and has been working on completing a permanent home since then.

The school has been oversubscribed every year since it first opened.

Earlier in July, the school announced that work on the permanent site, also on Freshfield Avenue is likely to take another nine months with contractors Galliford Try, working on behalf of the Department of Education, planning a handover in mid-December.

According to the trust, the new school building will feature soon-to-be state-of-art classrooms and science labs as well as facilities such as the library, sports hall and dining rooms.

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The school’s permanent facility should then be ready to take in pupils by January 2024.  

But until then this means that the new temporary building is needed because work will not be complete on the new site in time for the start of the new school year in September.

According to a council report there would not otherwise be enough room to accommodate all the children at the existing Lever Edge Lane facility.

When put to a vote the committee members unanimously decided to approve the proposal, meaning that work on the teaching block can now proceed.