Land to expand one Calderdale school and rebuild another – whose building dates back more than 120 years – will be appropriated by Calderdale Council to allow the work to be undertaken.

Senior councillors approved the appropriations to allow Wood Bank Special School to be expanded at Luddenden, and for much-needed rebuilding work at Shade School, Todmorden.

The Wood Bank land is next the school, while a car park which is next to Shade School will be appropriated, Calderdale Council Cabinet members agreed.

Leader of the council, Coun Daniel Sutherland, said in the case of Shade money for the rebuild was available thanks to Calderdale’s “extremely successful” securing of funding from the Department for Education’s School Rebuilding Programme.

Shade School, towering above Rochdale Road, Todmorden, built more than 120 years ago.

placeholder image — Shade School, towering above Rochdale Road, Todmorden, built more than 120 years ago.

In the case of Wood Bank, this is a locally-funded expansion of specialist provision, he said.

Wood Bank is Calderdale’s primary special school for young children with significant special educational needs. It is council-run and gives tailored education and support to children who cannot be suitably educated in a mainstream primary because of complex learning and additional needs.

Coun Sutherland (Reform UK, Illingworth and Mixenden) said appropriation of the land would enable the expansion of “much needed” SEND – special educational needs and disabilities – provision in Calderdale.

The councillors were told the Wood Bank land forms a grass verge to the roadside while further back from the road it is disused and largely overgrown – the council owns it and it was initially earmarked for housing.

But it has little potential for homes and as the Wood Bank site presents challenges, with space for expansion very limited, a solution will be for it to be used as the school park, allowing the expansion oc the current school onto the old car park.

Shade Primary School is also a constrained site and the car park in question is leased to the school and predominantly used by it, councillors were told.

The Shade building has serious condition issues expected of a building of its age – it was built in 1904.

It houses a small swimming pool in which many Todmordians have learned to swim over the years.

But, councillors heard, “it is unlikely to be possible to keep this provision operational (including the swimming pool) for anything other than the short term in its current state.”

An “extremely challenging site” with substantial changes in levels, it cannot be redeveloped within its current footprint.

The proposal is that the two sites – school plus car park – are combined to allow reconfiguration and redevelopment.

This will ultimately provide a new school – which will incorporate a new swimming pool, available for other schools and users to access, creating revenue for Shade School to offset running costs, the councillors were informed.

Car parking will be distributed around the site rather than being solely in one central position and relocation of the play area, with new equipment to be provided, within the new combined site is proposed.

The land is council-owned and will need switching between directorates from Public Services to Children and Young People’s Services, and the owning service is happy for this to happen, according to the briefing paper.