West Northamptonshire Council proposed to make land owned by the Local Authority, to the West of Thorpeville, Moulton, known as ‘Wantage Farm’ available to the Department for Education (DfE) for delivery of a new secondary free school.
New free schools are funded and delivered by the DfE and WNC’s involvement in this matter is limited to providing the site for the proposed new school.
The ‘Proposal by West Northamptonshire Council to make Land West of Thorpeville, Moulton, available to the Department for Education for delivery of a new secondary free school’ consultation ran from Wednesday 4 August to midnight on Friday 3 September 2021.
At the point the period of consultation concluded on 3 September 2021, 688 responses had been received, broken down as follows:
Responses received to the consultation clearly emphasise that respondents agreed with WNC’s assessment that
However, responses in respect of questions relating to whether or not stakeholders believed Wantage Farm to be the right location for a new school were mixed.
The 34 written responses in the form of letters and emails are not included in the numerical analysis above. Of these, 29 expressed general opposition and 5 expressed general support.
On Wednesday 15 September 2021, West Northamptonshire Council Cabinet authorised the Assistant Director Assets and Environment to enter into an Agreement for Lease which would commit the Council to granting a 125-year lease for the construction, and ongoing use, of the site for new secondary school at Wantage Farm, Moulton, Northampton.
Reasons for the decision
For more information about the proposal, consultation and decision, please see the agenda for Cabinet on Tuesday 14 September 2021.
The proposed Cabinet decision would in no way impact on the consideration of the proposed planning application. That would provide a forum where issues such as transport and the impacts on the local area would be resolved.
People are invited to give their views on proposals which would see a new secondary school built near Moulton to meet the demand for places in the area.
West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) has a legal obligation to provide a sufficiency of school places in all areas of West Northamptonshire. Since September 2019 a deficit of Year 7 places has been experienced in Northampton town.
Whilst WNC (and its predecessor organisation, Northamptonshire County Council) have provided sufficient, temporary ‘bulge’ capacity to meet demand since 2019, it is the position of WNC is that the only manner in which the demand for secondary school places can be met permanently is through the provision of a new secondary school to serve the town.
As a result, WNC is proposing to make land owned by the Local Authority, to the West of Thorpeville, Moulton, known as ‘Wantage Farm’ available to the Department for Education (DfE) for delivery of a new secondary free school.
New free schools are funded and delivered by the DfE and WNC’s involvement in this matter is limited to providing the site for the proposed new school.
The supporting document to this questionnaire provides full details in respect of;
Prior to making a decision on the proposal to make the Wantage Farm site available to the DfE on a 125 year lease for delivery of a new secondary school, WNC is seeking the views of all stakeholders on this proposal, prior to a decision being made by the Cabinet of WNC in September / October 2021.
All feedback received will be provided to and fully considered by Cabinet members prior to any decision being made on this proposal.
A ‘pre-planning’ consultation exercise has already been conducted by the DfE on this matter and further periods of consultation will be conducted by the DfE as part of the planning process.
Please read the related documents to gain a better understanding of the proposal before you comment on them.
Please tell us your views by completing this questionnaire. Your feedback will be part of a report with many other people’s feedback, so you will not be personally identified.
Alternatively, you can email or send your comments in by post using the contact details below.
If you have any queries, comments or would like a copy of this questionnaire in another format (including paper) you can contact us by email or post. Our contact details are as follows:
Email address: SchoolAdmissionsConsultation.NCC@northnorthants.gov.uk
Postal address:
This consultation will run from Wednesday 4 August to midnight on Friday 3 September 2021.
For information about how consultation and engagement responses are managed, please see the consultation and engagement privacy notice.
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