Bid to extend Altrincham College for 300 more students to go before planners

Plans for a new teaching block which will boost Altrincham College’s capacity to from 900 to nearly 1,200 students go before Trafford’s planning committee for consideration next week (Thursday September 26). The scheme for the 31-classroom extension which has been submitted by Trafford council to its own planning authority has been recommended for approval.

Contractor Lancaster Maloney Martin (LMM) has been appointed to deliver a two and three-storey building with the extra classrooms as well as a larger kitchen and restaurant, car parking and new fencing. There will also be additional storerooms, pupil toilets, staff workroom and offices. Currently,

The new build block site is currently occupied by an existing mathematics block, which will be demolished. A design and access statement says the internal alterations in the hall and dining area will only change a small percentage of the footprint of the school on Green Lane, Timperley.

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It says: “The school is located within green belt and as such, in accordance with green belt policies, special circumstances are required when constructing within these areas. The visual impact on the landscape will not be significantly different from that of the existing as there is already a three-story portion of the main block on the site.”

The site was previously home to a primary school and before that is believed to have been farming land. In 1966, it opened as Delahays Girls School which was expanded in 1978 to accommodate an increase in pupil intake.

In 1984, the boys' and girls' schools were merged to become Green Lane High School. Then in the 2000s, it became Altrincham College of Arts after a series of extensions.

"The objective of this project is to expand the school from 875 pupils to 1175, providing an additional 300 pupil places to start during the 2025/26 academic year," the statement adds. LMM say public consultation has taken place over the plan.

Three objections have been received citing parking issues around the college, particularly on Kenmore Road. "At drop-off and pick-up times, parents/guardians park on the single yellow line and also on the double yellow lines," one said.

"More classrooms will result in more cars and a headache for closeby neighbours." Another said more pupils and traffic will make Green Lane more congested/gridlocked.