Opinion: Right move to cancel new Ipswich high school

So the council's decision to scrap plans for a new high school on the Ipswich Garden Suburb near Westerfield railway station should be highlighted as the right move at the right time.

When the Ipswich Garden Suburb was conceived as a 3,500-home development for up to 10,000 residents it looked as if it would need three primary schools and a new high school.

The three primaries are still very much needed and are going ahead. But when you look at the map, at the land available, and the demographics that we are likely to see by the mid-2030s it is clear that a new high school in that position was a total no-no.

To start with the land allocated doesn't seem to be high quality and local residents, including local county and borough councillor Inga Lockington are concerned about its habit of flooding.

But even if the land had been okay, the site on the northern edge of the development was totally unsuitable.

The proposed new school would have been near Westerfield station - in totally the wrong place. (Image: Newsquest)

Much of its potential "catchment area" would have been fields unless there was a future extension of the development which really would destroy the character of the village of Westerfield.

Finally, both Ormiston Endeavour Academy and Northgate High School are not far from the opposite sides of the Suburb.

Although Mrs Lockington is absolutely right when she says that new safe walking and cycling routes between the Suburb and Northgate need to be created before the Redhouse neighbourhood of the new development is built.

What really put the final nail in the coffin of this proposal, though, was the fact that the birthrate in the UK - and especially in Suffolk - is falling.

Last year the lowest number of babies was born in the UK since 1977 and while the birthrate does tend to be cyclical, statisticians don't expect a massive baby boom anytime soon.

As a society an increasing number of people see a large family as an encumbrance rather than a benefit.

People are putting off having children until later. And a significant number are taking the decision not to start a family.

The cost of childcare, the need for families to have more than one breadwinner, and the sheer hassle of juggling life's various elements makes the prospect of family life unattractive for some.

Of course sentiments can change. Some spikes in the birthrate can be foreseen - like the baby booms in the early 1920s and late 40s after the two world wars.

 Others, like those in the late 60s and early 90s are echoes of earlier booms.

Knowing when the next boom is a real skill for statisticians although of course if you are planning new high schools you do have a lead-in time of at least 11 years between the birth increase and needing a school place!

Coming back to the garden suburb. For the foreseeable future expanding the two existing high schools seems like the most sensible option. 

Of course there may be a need for one or more new high schools in Ipswich eventually - but it is not clear where they will be needed. Possibly a new high school could be created somewhere in the town centre as more people live there.

But a new high school near Westerfield station was the last thing the town needed. The county recognised that in good time.

It hadn't spent millions on drawing up plans only to abandon them at the last moment.

Suffolk County Council took the right decision at the right time - a decision that was good for Ipswich and the  wider area.

The opinions expressed in this column are the personal views of Paul Geater and do not necessarily reflect views held by this newspaper, its sister publications or its owner and publisher Newsquest Media Group Ltd.