RESIDENTS living adjacent to a new £25m secondary school - which is set to open in September - are at their wits’ end after being confronted with a host of issues in the past few months.
Trinity Academy St Edward’s will move from its temporary home on Eastgate in the town centre - where it has been for almost three years - to Broadway, Kingstone.
It will open in September and have 90 staff, catering for youngsters aged between 11 and 16.
The proposed school - which has faced considerable delays since the plan was revealed three years ago - consists of a main, rectangular, multi-storey teaching block with an adjacent square sports hall, and a 140-space car park.
Access will be from Keresforth Close, which is directly accessed from the A6133 Broadway via a signalled junction, despite local councillors raising concerns over the road’s ability to deal with more traffic.
Local residents living on Keresforth Close told the Chronicle they were happy for the school to go ahead, but have since encountered a number of issues including finding out they’re set to lose their car park and workers driving down the road at speed ‘without even checking’.
Cheryl Lavender, 52, who lives on the road, said: “We were shown the plans for the new school when the decision was passed.
“Although we had no say in it we were happy for it to go ahead.
“But now it looks like the plans have been changed without ourselves being informed.
“We have lost a big chunk of our car park which is being taken by the new school and the road coming into it is a constant danger.
“How someone has not been killed yet is just unbelievable.”
Cheryl added that residents feel they have been ‘fed a lie’ and the issue will get even worse when the school becomes operational in September.
“Everyone is feeling the same way,” she said.
“It’ll be even worse when the school is there but it feels like we’re fighting a battle we can’t win.
“Our cars are being damaged by the destroyed road coming into our Close and we are constantly confronted by diggers reversing without even checking behind themselves.
“To walk on the road itself is a no go so prams and pushchairs have to be extra careful.
“But what is worse is the fact that the plans have been altered so much and we will now find our car park within the school parking area, which as you can imagine will be a nightmare.
“Again we were not consulted by either the construction site or by the council.”
Principal Mark Allen told the Chronicle: “We understand there was a meeting on site on Wednesday with local residents and the contractor.
“Bowmer and Kirkland have responded to the concerns raised by the residents and have put actions in place.
“We want to work proactively with local residents and reassure them of the negligible impact drop off and pick ups will have on their properties.
“Our plan will be shared with them well in advance of the school opening and we would welcome a meeting with residents too.”
Matt O’Neill, executive director for growth and sustainability, added: “This application (2023/1143) is a discharge of conditions application, where public consultation is not generally carried out.
"This type of application is a formal process where details relating to an approved development are considered and a decision is made on their acceptability.
"The public consultation exercise giving residents the opportunity to comment was undertaken on planning applications 2021/1631 and 2023/0117 which were approved subject to conditions.
“This took place between December 2021 and February 2022, and between February and March 2023.
"Developers must adhere to the approved construction method statement and residents can report any issues they experience on site by emailing developmentmanagement@barnsley.gov.uk"
