Site of mass illegal rave to be turned into £4m school

Spare land once used for an ‘all night rager’ during the pandemic is set to have a new £4 million special school built on it after council bosses gave the green light.

Rowan Tree Primary Special School in Atherton is now destined to be moved two miles down the road to Leigh. The idea is to expand the current premises on Green Hall Close by building a new school on the vacant site of the former Our Lady of the Rosary RC School off Heath Lane in Leigh.

This site has been vacant for more than a decade and has been misused for fly-tipping, parties during the Covid pandemic and much more, Coun Dane Anderton told the cabinet.

The portfolio holder for Police, Crime and Civil Contingencies, said: “This is a really good opportunity to support this site and I look forward to seeing what the consultation produces. At one point this was used as an all night rager during covid.”

Back in May 2020, the site was used as access to an illegal rave during the height of the Covid pandemic. The hundreds who were spotted drinking and listening to music at Fir Tree Flash were scorned on social media for the mess they left behind.

The cabinet report, approved by Wigan Council bosses in the town hall on Thursday (August 3), explained that the current school building has significantly exceeded its design life and may eventually present a health and safety risk. Additionally, the current site would not be big enough to accommodate the new school.

The proposal is to relocate the school to a bigger, more central site that is easier for Wigan children to access. The idea of changing location also benefits the students, in the council’s eyes, as construction could be disruptive for their education.

This move would see the intake at Rowan Tree