PLANS are going ahead for the fusion of two Radcliffe primary schools – the Radcliffe Hall CE School and the Close Methodist Day School.

Both 19th century buildings are on adjacent sites in Bury Street. It is proposed to close the street separating the sites and build an extension to increase accommodation to cater for the rising school population in the area.

The scheme for a merger, first proposed several years ago has been approved by the respective church bodies and by the Prestwich, Radcliffe and Whitefield Divisional Education Executive.

The chairman of the Radcliffe Hall School managers Canon W R Davis, Rector of Radcliffe, said this week that the managers and the parochial church council had approved the plan.

“We have wanted the merger for some years and are very much in favour of joining the two schools,” he said.

Canon Davis said that he and the Diocesan Director of the Religious Education had attended a meeting with the trustees of the Methodist Church in connection with the proposals.

The trustees of the Close and also the Education Committee of the Methodist Church have now passed the plan and the Divisional Executive agreed to it, but before negotiations can be finalised the merger must be approved by the Lancashire Education Committee and the Department of Education and Science. A date for merger has not been fixed and the necessary negotiations may yet take time to complete. At present both the schools cater for juniors and infants: 250 at Radcliffe Hall and 150 the Close Methodist.