King's School declines to comment on Alderley Park rumours

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The King's School in Macclesfield has declined to confirm or deny rumours that it is considering a move to Alderley Park.

The independent school is currently located on two sites, Cumberland Street in the centre of Macclesfield which is home to the Boys' Division and the mixed Sixth Form and Fence Avenue on the Eastern side of the town where the Infants, Juniors and Girls' Division is based.

The school has confirmed that it wishes to relocate some time in the future, preferably within the next 7 to 10 years, to a single site but has declined to comment on whether the AstraZeneca site is one of those being considered, because of commercial sensitivity.

Dr Simon Hyde, Headmaster of King's, said "There is still a great deal of work to do before we can realise our '2020 Vision' for King's to operate on a single site. We have conducted an extensive search in the Macclesfield area and are currently actively pursuing a small number of potential sites. At present, we are unable to disclose the location of any of these sites due to the commercial sensitivity of this information. We are making good progress but it could take another twelve months before we will be in a position to provide more specific detail.

"Whilst the project unfolds, we are keen to emphasise that it is our intention not only to deliver for the local community an outstanding educational establishment, rivalling Britain's leading schools, but to ensure that the legacy of King's at our current sites will be a positive and attractive one."

Speaking about the rumours, Cllr Michael Jones, Leader of Cheshire East Council, said "It is a private school and I have no comment other than to say that I do not support it because of the heritage of the school in Macclesfield."

In March 2013 AstraZeneca announced that the R&D facility at Alderley Park will close. As a result 1,600 research and development roles will be relocated from Alderley Park by 2016, with the significant majority going to a new £300m global R&D centre and corporate headquarters in Cambridge. The remainder will relocate to the company's nearby Macclesfield facility or sites overseas.

As a result of the restructuring around 700 non R&D are expected to remain at Alderley Park, the pharmaceutical company currently employs 2,900 people at the site, and there will be approximately 550 redundancies at the site over the next three years.

Residents of the parish of Nether Alderley have been invited to a meeting at the Astrazeneca Conference Centre next week to discuss the Nether Alderley Parish Plan. During which there will be a presentation from AstraZeneca on the future use of Alderley Park site.

Tags:
AstraZeneca, Kings School
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Sarah Lane
Wednesday 20th November 2013 at 2:24 pm
What a fantastic idea. Could become an even better school in wonderful grounds and the possibility of future expansion.
Fiona Braybrooke
Wednesday 20th November 2013 at 11:23 pm
Yes it is a great idea. They sell their site on Fence Avenue and potentially the site and other land which is Green Belt is turned into a Housing Estate. Great progress for a private school but not the residents in the area who enjoy the green fields and open space and will have to fight to stop the developers!
Sarah Lane
Thursday 21st November 2013 at 11:13 am
People are fighting the developers all over the Country, I tried it myself and lost. Does that mean everyone has to stay put and not make any progress.
Fiona Braybrooke
Thursday 21st November 2013 at 11:28 pm
No Sarah it does not. If you look closer to home a private school wishes to develop its sports facilities so it can compete with other private schools. The consequence being that an allotment site in Alderley Edge is under threat of being tar aced over in the process of their development.
A private school in Macclesfield sells its former site to developers along with playing fields and the developers take over!
Yes that is great progress for the private schools and those who support this kind of land swap should not complain that the green belt or even covenant land is being developed
Sarah Lane
Friday 22nd November 2013 at 10:22 am
I don't know the answer to it all but why should any school stay put and not expand and improve facilities just to stop the developers. That's not progress.

Private schools don't just compete with other private schools though, at least not in my knowledge of it all.

I don't understand the desire to build on every spare bit of land and wish it was not happening but it is, all the new homes look the same, overpriced boxes that are repeated up and down the Country. If Kings does move the land won't be taken by any other business so it's only really left to developers, sad but true but Kings should be allowed to expand and grow if they need to.
Susan Costello
Saturday 23rd November 2013 at 9:27 am
If Kings school does go Cumberland St,Kings building would make a fantastic hotel, obviously expensive, swimming pool etc. The new town, shops, resturants, cinema, airport expansion would not go against the success of a hotel here. Lovely for weddings, cristenings etc. Beautiful building in the heart of the town. What a fantastic project that would be.
Fiona Braybrooke
Saturday 23rd November 2013 at 12:25 pm
Yes it would be. The problem is that their playing fields and then green belt land which sits behind is under threat once again. When Kings school sell the site they will earn a tidy profit from its sale to the developers. This is a business at the end of the day so why would they care.
Craig Wilson
Saturday 23rd November 2013 at 7:12 pm
I thought these schools were classed as charities?

Not that makes any difference.......
Fiona Braybrooke
Sunday 24th November 2013 at 1:06 am
Charities? They are a business