New nursery and primary school to be built in Manchester city centre near new apartment towers

Following years of campaigning by Deansgate ward and Piccadilly ward councillors, the plans have now been given unanimous approval by executive council members.

A report read: “This project will create a new primary school at the Crown Street Phase two development in the ward of Deansgate.

“The school will include 210 places for primary age children and a 26-place nursery.”

The school and nursery will sit in the Crown Street Phase Two development – made up of two 51-storey residential towers – boasting 855-apartments in the southern corner of Deansgate Square – as part of the Great Jackson Street masterplan.

Proposals for the two towers, known as ‘The Blade’ and ‘The Circle’, as well as a new public park, were given planning approval in August 2020.

The new school will occupy a two-storey building to the north of the towers and will be screened from view by a line of trees and vegetation.

To allow for the new school and nursery to be created, a request of a capital budget increase of £2.45m in the 2022/23 financial year and £0.25m in the 2023/24 financial year was made at executive this afternoon.

The capital update report stated that the funding will come from external contribution funds and moving funds around within the council’s capital budget across both financial years from the already approved Education Basic Need Unallocated budget.

Introducing the capital update report at an executive meeting, Coun Bev Craig, deputy leader said: “[The report includes] what I think is the really exciting prospect of a new city centre primary school. A significant amount of work has gone into this from Deansgate councillors over the past number of years, so I want to thank them for their hard work on behalf of residents. This shows the significance of our plans in the city centre.”

Coun Gary Bridges, executive member for children’s services, added: “This is a big moment for the city, members have been campaigning for a long time to have school in the city centre and it’s a big statement for what we intend the city centre to be; with lots of homes and jobs.

“People want to make that their permanent home, close to their families, so it’s an important time for us to provide this for the city centre. I want to give thanks particularly to Deansgate and Piccadilly councillors who have been campaigning on this for some time.”