Plans for a new primary school in the grounds of Royds Hall High look set to move forward.

The results of the six-week public consultation for an all-through school on the Luck Lane site at Paddock were broadly positive. The new school would cater for children aged four to 16.

The council received 629 replies from the public, only 16% of whom said they opposed the scheme. This is in stark contrast to Almondbury, where 86% of responders were opposed to the plans for a merger to create an all-through school.

Kirklees Cabinet members will discuss both plans at their next meeting on Tuesday, January 28. The recommendation is for them to take the next step in making the Royds Hall plan a reality.

The proposal comes at a time when there is unprecedented pressure for school places, particularly in the HD3 area. The last 12 years has seen a 20% increase in the Kirklees school population.

Royds Hall High School currently has 880 pupils aged 11 to 16. Under the scheme, a new primary school would be built in the grounds. It would have an intake of 30 reception class pupils a year, starting this September. This would last for seven years until the primary school had its full complement of 210 pupils in September, 2020.

The public consultation could be deemed a victory for pupil power, as 75% of all respondents were current Royds Hall students and only one in seven of them didn’t like the idea of being joined by a primary school. Parents and carers only accounted for one in 12 of the replies and there was more opposition from them, with over a quarter being opposed to the plan.

The overall results of the consultation were: Strongly Support The Proposal – 19%, Support – 28%, Neither Support Nor Oppose – 30%, Oppose – 8%, Strongly Oppose – 8% and Don’t Know – 7%.

If Cabinet members back the recommendation, the next step is the publication of legal notices, with another opportunity for the public to view and comment on the proposals before a final decision is made.