'It's 90 minutes each way': Parents and children march 3.5 miles in protest over scrapped Northampton estate school plans

Families from the new Dallington Grange housing estate, between Harlestone Firs and Kings Heath, took part in a protest walk on Sunday September 13, walking from their new homes to Kingsthorpe College.

The journey takes around an hour-and-a-half each way on foot, meaning children could face a three-hour round trip if they had to make the journey every school day.

There are currently no buses serving the new estate.

The protest comes after the Department for Education (DfE) scrapped funding for a planned 900-place secondary school at Dallington Grange.

The school was part of the plans for the 3,000-home development and was due to be run by Wootton Park Trust.

Parents say the school was one of the reasons families chose to move to the estate.

Barbara, a mum living on the new estate, previously said: “A secondary school should be, in my opinion, a community school where [students] can easily walk or easily take the bus.

“The walk from Harlestone Grange to Kingsthorpe College is an hour and a half, more or less, on a route that’s unsafe – otherwise the parents will need to commute by car.”

Daniela, another parent, said she was only told the school had been cancelled after moving into her new home earlier this year.

She raised concerns about the lack of public transport connections to existing secondary schools and a potential “massive spike” in car dependency.

West Northants Labour group leader Sally Keeble, who represents Dallington Spencer, has been campaigning for the school to be reinstated.

She said: “The cancellation of the secondary school is a huge blow to families who moved to Dallington Grange because it offered good housing and schools for their children. 3,000 homes will be built on the estate, up to 6,000 on housing estates nearby. At present parents have to drive their children as far as Guilsborough to school. The case for a new school is overwhelming and the council must think again.”

She added: “Of the four schools West Northants Council suggested one – Duston – is always full. The other three, Kingsthorpe College, Malcom Arnold and Northampton International Academy are all over two miles away, although the council claims they’re in walking distance. There are no buses in the estate.”

Asked about the DfE cancelling the plans and whether the issue was now a Labour Government matter, Cllr Keeble said: “The responsibility for it has never been made clear. The government cancelled the free school funding. It seems that then the council looked at the pupil figures and between them and the government agreed to cancel the entire school provision. I think it was the wrong decision based on old figures.”

She said: “I think the council should be making the case to government for the funding of this school, and should reinstate it in the councils capital programme. Sooner or later there will have to be a school in the area and they already have the Dallington grange site allocated”

West Northamptonshire Council has previously said the decision not to proceed with the school was made by the DfE and confirmed to the council in December 2025.

West Northants Reform UK leader and WNC leader Cllr Mark Arnull said: “This is pure political theatre. The decision to scrap the Dallington Grange free school was one taken by the Department for Education, not West Northamptonshire Council. If Cllr Keeble disagrees with it, her argument is with Labour ministers, not the council.”

He added: “What’s most noticeable is that while ClIr Keeble is staging protest walks, Labour's two MPs in West Northamptonshire remain conspicuously silent. That leaves her looking like a lone wolf, campaigning against her own Government's decision.”

He said: “The real question for the Labour government is how they can justify imposing thousands of new homes on West Northamptonshire while, cancelling the very school infrastructure those growing communities need.”

WNC has previously said current forecasts show there is sufficient secondary school capacity across West Northamptonshire, including available places at nearby schools.

The council said it remained committed to ensuring there were enough high-quality school places and would continue planning for future housing growth.

West Northamptonshire MP Labour’s Lucy Rigby said: “I share the concerns of residents and parents about the cancellation of the planned secondary school at Dallington Grange.

“I recently met with Education Minister Josh MacAlister to raise the issue directly. He relayed that any reconsideration would depend on updated evidence being submitted by the council to the Government.

“I will continue to support our local councillors as we press West Northamptonshire Council to provide the Department for Education with the most up-to-date information on housing growth and future pupil numbers, to safeguard the site originally allocated for the school, and to set out a clear long-term plan for meeting secondary school demand across Northampton.

“Parents are right to seek clarity on the alternatives being proposed. The concerns that have been raised about travel distances and accessibility deserve careful consideration, particularly given the scale of development planned for the area.

“My focus is on ensuring that families have access to appropriate school places close to where they live.”