New Manchester school is only opening next month - but is already under threat of demolition

A new school site in south Manchester set to open in September would be partly-demolished under the latest HS2 plans. The Manchester Islamic Grammar School for Girls will be moving to Didsbury next month.

But the project to bring high-speed trains to the city now involves knocking down part of the school's new site at the former Fielden Park college campus. Plans for a ventilation shaft at the former Hollies Convent School site feature an access road which passes through the Muslim girls' school's new home.

The ventilation shaft would regulate air quality and temperature in the HS2 tunnels below it. A 'sizeable' structure would also be built on the land above it.

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The team behind the multi-billion pound project said it chose this location before the Manchester Islamic Educational Trust (MIET) announced its plans to use the land as a school. But the trust says its future is now under threat.

A spokesperson said: "MIET has sold the site of our girls’ and prep schools and will be moving to Didsbury in two phases – September 23 for the Girls’ Grammar School and January 24 for the Prep School. The Fielden Park Campus is our new home and we do not have any fall-back position.

"Having seen the AP2 report by HS2, both the location of the vent shaft and the access road through our new site will result in closing down the largest and oldest Girls’ Islamic School in Manchester, thereby jeopardising the very existence of our Trust. This will gravely limit the choice of parents within the community to send their children to an Islamic faith School."

A ventilation shaft had previously been planned at Withington Golf Course in Palatine