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Anger at school plans for African Caribbean centre site

Claire Hamilton
BBC News, Liverpool
BBC A classroom with purple tables and yellow stools and brick walls painted red, green and white with paintings of Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela.BBC
Almost 3,000 people have signed an online petition to save the centre

Trustees of a community centre have said they will fight plans to build a new girls school on its site.

Plans are expected to be agreed at a cabinet meeting later to see an all-girls Muslim faith school built on site of the African Caribbean Centre Liverpool off Upper Parliament Street.

The team running the centre in Toxteth said the council must not "drive a wedge" between different members of the city's most diverse area in its effort to create much-needed school places.

The council said the site had been identified as it met the urgent need for secondary school places in a poorly-served part of Liverpool.

Google A single storey brick building with red, yellow, blue, black and green painted railings. A brown sign with white writing reads: Merseyside Caribbean Community CentreGoogle
The Caribbean centre is a well known landmark in Liverpool's Toxteth area

Caribbean centre trustee Andrea Vaz said there had been a lack of consultation.

"This has happened so quickly, they're pushing it through," she said.

"We are not happy – it's never been clear to us that this was the site being proposed for the new school.

"We have no knowledge of the Caribbean site being put forward. Nobody is happy.

"We are a cohesive community and what Liverpool City Council is trying to do is drive a wedge between all the different cultures within Toxteth.

"This community centre is used by everybody – people have grown up here."

Inside the community hall where tables with white table cloths and chairs with white covers are located. Caribbean flags are painted on the walls including: Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago
Local people said the community centre "is used by everybody"

There is huge demand for secondary school places in Liverpool and a shortage of supply which the city has said would be critical in 2026.

Councillor Nick Small, cabinet member for growth and economy, admitted landing on a permanent home for the school that met the various criteria had proven to be "very difficult."

According to a cabinet report which will go before members later, the Department for Education (DfE) identified L7/L8/L15 postcode areas as the required geographic search area for the new school.

It is thought the first intake for the school year 2026/27 could take more than 120 pupils at the facility operated by Star Academies.

The board of the African Caribbean Centre has launched an online petition garnering almost 3,000 signatures in opposition to the plans, which it says will displace the city's black community.

Council officials said they would engage with representatives from the African Caribbean community to identify alternative provision which met local need, either on the existing site or nearby.

Councillor Lila Bennett, cabinet member for employment, educational attainment and skills said: "In our meetings with the African Caribbean Centre's leaders, we have reinforced our commitment to providing improved modern facilities which meet the community's needs."

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