BUILDING work has finally started on a controversial academy school, seven years after it was first proposed.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held this afternoon (Thursday, October 10) to officially begin work on Consett’s new academy and leisure centre.

Officials from Durham County Council, academy sponsors New College Durham and contractors Inspiredspaces cut the first sod on the 35-acre Belle Vue site, with construction due to start in the next few weeks.

The £43m complex will create a single campus for Consett Academy, formed in January 2012 on a split site by the merger of Moorside Community Technology College and Consett Community Sports College.

A leisure centre and swimming pool attached to the school will replace existing facilities and the 1,700-capacity school and sixth form is expected to welcome its first pupils in September 2015.

The academy was first proposed in 2006, but protracted legal and political wrangles over the choice of site have rumbled on for the last four years.

Protesters fought a long battle against the council’s preferred Belle Vue site, arguing for an alternative on the former steelworks site at Berry Edge.

However, the development was finally granted planning permission in March.

Coun Ossie Johnson, cabinet member for children and young people's servces, said: “I am really pleased that we have got to this point.

“It's what the young people of Consett deserve. The uncertainty has gone and we can concentrate on their future and the aspirations both of the students and their parents."

Pat Glass MP added: “It has been a long time coming and I know it has been difficult on the way, but for all the debate about the location I don't think I've spoken to a single person who doesn't believe that we should have a new school in Consett."

Among the leading opponents of the Belle Vue site was Independent councillor Alex Watson.

He said: “History will show this is one of the worst decisions Durham County Council has ever made because there would have been massive savings to be made by building it at the Berry Edge site and because of the huge traffic problems which are going to arise, not just during construction, but when it is finished."