A MAJOR shake-up of secondary schools in Northallerton has been announced - but education bosses have denied rumours it will pave the way for major new developments.

However there is concern among some parents of the 1,200 pupils at Northallerton College who say there has been no consultation over the scheme.

They have been told the majority of students are being moved to the Grammar School Lane site from September. Only entry Year Sevens will be based at the old Allertonshire school buildings at the other end of the town in Brompton Lane.

That will leave large areas of the Allertonshire site empty - it is currently split on two sides of the main road into the town from the A19 - and there have been rumours that at least part of it was going to be sold off for housing development, possibly as part of the North Northallerton scheme.

School head Chris Byrne has insisted the site will be kept for education, but with no plans for a separate sixth form.

He said: “We are planning to keep all three sites - there is a lot of misinformation around at the moment.

“We want to make the best use of the sites.There is lots of potential and I don’t mean for building houses.”

The move comes just 18 months after the two schools were merged after years of being two separate schools, the Allertonshire for 11 to 14 year olds and Northallerton College for 14 to 19-year-olds.

One parent said: “It is all really confusing for the youngsters and there is a lot of concern that we heard nothing about this until last week. There was no consultation.

“The Allertonshire site is going to be seriously underused and nobody would be surprised if in a year’s time part of it was put on the market for housing.”