Plans to close six secondary schools in North Durham and replace them with three new-build academies have divided opinion ever since they were first mooted, more than three years ago.

As Durham County Council reveals where the academies could be built, Mark Tallentire considers the options.

MUCH of the debate over the proposed County Durham academies has focused on whether they should be built at all.

But with the council having decided to press ahead, attention is turning to the detail – and the authority is consulting on five potential locations.

For the proposed Stanley academy, which would cater for 1,500 11 to 16-year-olds and some post-16 students, the equation is relatively straightforward.

Council officials considered eight sites and concluded only one was suitable: the former Kings Head sports field, off High Street/Chester Road.

But the Durham and Consett options are more controversial.

In Consett, six sites were considered, with two deemed appropriate: a Belle Vue site between Villa Real Road and Ashdale Road; and a Crookhall site, between the Consett bypass and Gloucester Road.

The Belle Vue option raises questions over the future of the town’s football and rugby clubs, civic centre and a leisure centre. The council says all these issues are “still being explored”.

On the other hand, Derwentside Independent councillor Watts Stelling said access to the Crookhall site would be “a nightmare”.

But the elephant in the room is the absence of former Consett Steelworks land as a consultation option.

Coun Stelling said it was the “obvious” site, while Liberal Democrat Owen Temple said he was “at a loss to understand” why it had not been included.

The Consett academy would be for 1,500 11 to 16- year-olds and some post-16 students.

Across in Durham, things are no less complex. Of five sites considered, two were judged suitable: the existing Belmont School and land off Sunderland Road, near Belmont Industrial Estate.

Both have drawbacks: if Belmont School is chosen, the academy would be bisected by the A1(M), while if Sunderland Road wins, Belmont Community Centre may have to be moved.

Roberta Blackman-Woods, Durham City’s Labour MP, said both options seem possible.

Her Liberal Democrat challenger, Councillor Carol Woods, who is opposed to the academies scheme, said she had concerns over the loss of green space and creating a split site school.

The Durham academy would be for 1,200 11 to 16- year-olds and some post-16 students. The Durham sixth form centre would remain at its current city centre site.

There is something most people can agree on: the location of any academies would be important.

Opponents of the £75m programme have made their voices heard, repeatedly and strongly, in an effort to force the council into dropping the project and the choice of one site over another is unlikely to silence their campaigning.

But in the long run, the consultation launched this week could mean more to the success or failure of the proposed academies – and be more significant to the communities which would host them – than any strike, protest or petition.

Durham County Council’s consultation closes on Friday, July 3, and decisions on sites could be taken in August.

For more details, go to durham.gov.uk