The site at Hopwood Hall College where the temporary school buildings will be situated Planning permission for temporary school classrooms on greenbelt land in Middleton has been approved by Rochdale Council’s Planning and Licensing Committee (8 April). Due to a 'significant and immediate need' for Year 7 school places from September 2021, temporary facilities are needed to educate pupils at Middleton’s new high school, Edgar Wood Academy, which has not yet been built. As the plans comprise development on greenbelt adjacent to Hopwood College's Middleton campus, it was considered that the need for education would outweigh the ‘limited and reversible temporary harm’ arising as a result of the development.