SILSDEN parents are being urged to make their views known as early as possible about the town’s proposed new school.

Town and district councillor Adrian Naylor made the appeal this week as Bradford Council announced its first consultation over the plans.

A public drop-in session will be held at Hothfield Junior School in Silsden on Wednesday, February 1, from 3.30pm to 7.30pm.

Cllr Naylor said it was vital that existing and prospective parents went along to the session to chat with the council’s Education and Children’s Services officers.

He said: “I would encourage anyone with an interest in our new school to engage with this process now, so their views can be taken into account before officers start designing the school.

“This is the time when the council can make changes more easily, rather than when the scheme has been scoped out.”

Bradford Council plans to build a long-awaited new Silsden primary school on land on the north side of Silsden, above Silsden Park and Daisy Hill.

The council announced the project July last year soon after buying land bordering Banklands Lane and Hawber Cote Lane, off Bolton Road.

The other half of the school site will be adjacent land, off Middleway and Aireville Mount, that has been owned by Bradford Council since it put forward plans for a middle school several decades ago.

The new Silsden school due to be open by 2018, will solve existing overcrowding problems and help meet future demand from families moving into the 1,200 new homes planned for the town over the next few years.

Silsden is unusual in that its primary-age provision is split between two schools, Aire View Infant and Hothfield Junior, with both schools heavily oversubscribed.

Last year several parents of Aire View children were unable to get follow-on places at Hothfield, despite living only a few hundred yards away.

The two schools are currently working towards a merger this September, but will remain on the two existing sites until the new campus is ready, possibly in 2018/19.

District councillor Andrew Mallinson, this week said the word “consultation” should be used very loosely with regard to the February 1 drop-in.

He added: “I believe that Bradford Council has already purchased the land so what alternative do we really have?”

The council has earmarked Silsden for 1,200 new houses over the next 15 years as part of its Local Plan, and planning applications have been submitted over the past couple of years for several hundred houses on various sites across the town.