THE head teacher and chair of governors of an Ilkley School have rebuffed the suggestion that a re-location of the school grounds is set to be an environmental disaster.

And in a statement to the Ilkley Gazette, head teacher Peter Marsh and Chair of Governors Kathy Allen, say that the transfer of All Saints' First School from Leeds Road to Skipton road could be environmentally sympathetic.

The Wharfedale Environmental Trust (WET) which criticised the plan to move the school to land it described as one of the town's few remaining 'green lungs' has even been offered a hand in consultation on the new development.

The statements says: "Last week's article, 'New school is a 'fat cats' plan' suggested that the new All Saints' school building will have many detrimental effects on the town.

"We would like to state that on the contrary, a conservation area would be a major feature in the minds of the Governors when sitting down to plan the buildings with the architects.

"Each of the points raised by the Wharfedale Environment Trust (WET) can be countered positively in favour of All Saints supporting our local environment."

The statement disputes the suggestion that there would be a massive increase in car use with parents being obliged to take children to school.

It says: "When campaigning for the Skipton Road site, a survey of parents suggested that 80 per cent of our intake will travel to school on foot as opposed to 20 per cent on our current site.

"This would signify a substantial decrease in the numbers of cars used each morning for school travel."

It also denies that existing traditional buildings will be replaced by cheap modern ugly buildings.

The statement says: "The school's current site is owned by the Diocese of Bradford. We are confident that they will be sympathetic to environmental issues when considering the sale of the buildings.

"To be fair, in this instance, the Council are far from being 'fat cats'. The land, which is owned by the Education Department, would be far more valuable if sold for housing rather than school development.

"There should be little doubt in anyone's mind that should the site not be used for a new school, it will certainly be bulldozed for housing in the very near future."

Mr Marsh and Mrs Allen believe that educational considerations are the driving force behind the proposed scheme, that new buildings for the school have been necessary for many years and demand for them will become greater when the school begins catering for 10 and 11 year olds.

The statement says: "We are not unsympathetic to the ravages that bad planning can have on our environment. We would welcome working in consultation with the WET.

"This way we could feel confident not only in maintaining, but also encouraging the growth of rare botanical species while investing in the future by educating our children on environmental issues."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.