DEMOLITION work to pave the way for a new science block to provide 'up-to-date facilities' at Great Sankey High School should begin later this summer.

The school's proposal to build a single-storey block with 11 new laboratories will come before the development management committee at the Town Hall on Wednesday.

It would be positioned on the area currently occupied by the former Barrow Hall Primary School buildings, where demolition work is planned.

The council has an 'ownership interest' in the part of the site currently occupied by the former primary school buildings.

The application has been recommended for approval, subject to conditions.

In planning documents, it has been confirmed that the science block would deliver 'up-to-date facilities' at the site, on Barrow Hall Lane, and together with existing and proposed buildings 'would form a central plaza feature with a high-quality outside space'.

And threats posed by climate change have also been taken into account.

The finished floor level of the new building would be raised 'to make an allowance for flood risk and for forecast climate change'.

The flood risk assessment has proposed a number of 'physical measures' which would mitigate against the ‘known flood risk’, including the raising of the floor level.

Council officers said, subject to the implementation of these measures, the science block would show ‘sustainability benefits’ to the community outweighing the risk of flooding – and that 'it would be safe for its lifetime'.