Great News for Newark Orchard School and Newark Day Centre

£15m plans set to confirm new school and day centre for Newark

A £15m scheme to build a new school to replace the dilapidated Orchard Special School AND a brand new day centre in Newark are to be considered by Nottinghamshire County Council next week.

Go-ahead for the proposals would see the area in Balderton, which is currently made up of the now demolished Grove Leisure Centre, existing Newark Day Centre, a former Pupil Referral Unit building and small landscape depot, completely transformed.

The report setting out the plans, which will be considered by the Policy Committee, follows a County Council decision to commit a further £2.5m to the project, in addition to the £5m previously allocated and comes after a full options appraisal of potential sites and layouts. The total cost of the redevelopment, including external funding is £15m.

Constructing a new day centre alongside the new school opens up opportunities to provide high-quality facilities with better synergies between the two.

The redevelopment of the complete site will mean that the existing day centre will be demolished. To facilitate this, Woods Court in Newark - a residential care and support centre will be adapted as a temporary new home for the existing day service, whilst the redevelopment work takes place.

Subject to detailed design and planning, it is anticipated that Orchard School pupils and Newark Day Centre users will be in the brand new facilities by the end of 2020.

The Policy Committee will consider the proposals at its meeting on the 28th March. If they are approved, consultation will start straight away with users and stakeholders of the existing facilities.

A Project Board will be established to ensure stakeholders views are central to the scheme and oversee the detailed design and construction phase.

Orchard Special School is currently split between two buildings at separate sites in Newark - Appletongate and London Road - both of which are in urgent need of redevelopment.

Councillor Kay Cutts, Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council and Chairman of the Policy Committee, said: "I am delighted that we are now in a position where we can take forward the much-anticipated redevelopment of the Orchard School and not only that, deliver a great new day centre too.

"The demolition of the former leisure centre and other adjoining sites provides us with a blank canvas, giving us the perfect opportunity to deliver a purpose-built development with modern facilities for users of both the school and day centre.

"This is not only a fantastic outcome for pupils, day centre users and staff at both facilities, it is also a fantastic outcome for residents of Newark who will benefit from a significant regeneration of the area.

"Finally, I would like to pay tribute to Orchard School staff, pupils and parents who have battled on patiently in their current, unsuitable facilities. I very much look forward to working alongside them as we design and deliver a new school they can be proud of."

A copy of the Policy Committee report is available to download for the County Council's website.