Plans for new town centre school could be cancelled

Plans to open a new school in an empty town centre building look set to be cancelled.

A proposal for a new primary school to replace the Edwardian Co-op building in Ipswich were first announced in 2017 and then given the go-ahead in 2021.

It was planned that the building would be demolished, but no work ever began.

The Department for Education (DfE) has now said it was "minded to cancel" the project due to questions over demand.

"SCAP 24 (School Capacity Academic Year 2024) indicates sufficient primary places in the planning area for this project and projections on pupil yield from future housing developments remain uncertain," the government said.

"Whilst some schools in the centre of Ipswich have historically been oversubscribed, there are alternative schools within reasonable travelling distance of the location of the proposed school."

Developers had planned to demolish the building to make way for a two-storey primary school, with capacity for 420 students and a nursery for 26.

A multi-use games area was also planned for the roof, with a further open space for outdoor teaching proposed for land adjacent to Unity Street and Upper Orwell Street.

The DfE said it had a priority to "drive high standards to ensure children thrive in whichever type of school they are in, including free schools" and not processing with some mainstream free schools would enable it to "prioritise high quality provision where it is needed most, now and in the future".

Last year it emerged the plans were delayed after a Grade II listed mural, located above the Cox Lane walkway to Carr Street, needed to be preserved.

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