'Jobs in jeopardy' as firm forced to move due to Nottingham school that now won't open

Nottingham businesses, which had opposed "ridiculous" plans for a new school to be set up in their industrial estate, have shared their frustration after it was revealed the finished building will never open. Funding for the opening of the 210-place Waterside Primary School on the Trent Basin Estate was pulled in December by the Department of Education due to low pupil demand, despite the structure's exterior being completed.

However, crane supplier Harold Potter, which is based directly opposite the empty primary, had already taken the decision to move due to fears it would be shut down by complaints from parents. Randall Keightley, national sales manager for the firm, said: “We felt that once we started fabricating and welding out there, [parents] walking past with children, they were going to complain.

"Our main fear was that we were going to be shut down because of it and then we’d need to find new premises. And that is the reason we’re moving.

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“It [the decision to build the school] has made us move, full stop.” Mr Keightley explained the company will be moving to Mansfield in the forthcoming months and that could impact jobs. He continued: “It could put jobs in jeopardy, some of our staff may not be able to move or travel to Mansfield.”

Phil Tebbutt, general manager of cricket bat-manufacturer Gunn & Moore, which is also next to the school, described how the whole ordeal has left him feeling “incredibly frustrated” at the lack of planning. He said: “It feels like it was never planned properly from the beginning. They [Nottingham City Council] hadn’t done their due diligence, and it felt like they were just forcing through a decision.

“It didn’t matter what we said [in meetings with the council], they were just bludgeoning it through. It was a vanity project from the point of view of the Department of Education and Nottingham City Council of being the first net-zero school to be built in the country. And look where they are now.”

Mr Tebbutt believed the school's failure to open would allow the industrial area to continue functioning as normal. “It leaves an industrial area to carry on being an industrial area. We’re too quick to sacrifice businesses in the boom to build houses and things, but this isn’t the place to be building it [a primary school]”, he said.

Steve Wilkinson, facilities manager at Gunn & Moore, felt the whole consultation process prior to the school’s construction should have been more thorough saying not enough businesses had been leafleted about the proposals.

He said: “We think it [the consultation] was flawed, right from the very beginning. Our concerns about health and safety and traffic management were completely disregarded, we were ignored.”

Mr Wilkinson added that he had “no confidence in the council whatsoever to get anything done correctly” while Mr Keightley slammed the council for wasting money. He said: “I’ve been born and bred in Nottingham and I’ve always raved about what a lovely city it is.

“I’m now embarrassed to talk about Nottingham - everywhere you look is dilapidated. It’s embarrassing and it’s because of the council not spending money on things it should do like the roads. That school is a complete waste of £12 million of taxpayers' money.”

Mr Keightley, Mr Tebbutt and Mr Wilkinson all described how they could not see past the building being used in the future for anything other than education purposes or even knocked down for residential use. Greenwood Academies Trust, which had been intending to run the school once it was open, has promised to help find an alternative use for the building.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Ministers have accepted Greenwood Academies Trust’s request to withdraw the Waterside Primary pipeline project from the pre-opening stage. This government’s priority is to establish schools where there is a need for places and ensure good value for taxpayers’ money, with funding targeted to where it is most needed.

"The demand for places at the proposed school has not materialised at the rate expected in Nottingham City Council’s basic need forecasts.”

A Nottingham City Council spokesperson said: "The Council is in active discussions with the DfE to secure a positive educational use of the building, given the announcement that Greenwood Academy Trust will not be opening the planned primary school. We hope these discussions will enable an announcement to be made as swiftly as possible to assure residents and local businesses that the school building has a viable future."