New primary school is given the go-ahead

BUILDERS FOOT BILL FOR NEW FACILITY AS PART OF HUGE ESTATE

A PRIMARY school for 210 pupils will be built on the edge of a town as part of an 850-home development.

Leicestershire county councillors approved the application at a planning meeting this week.

The school will be built by Bloor Homes as part of the development currently under way off Normandy Way, on the outskirts of Hinckley.

The company must provide the school under a Section 106 agreement – a legally-binding contract that ties developers in to making financial contributions to ensure services and infrastructure can cope, and expand in line, with the growing population resulting from developments.

As a result, much of the £6 million price tag for the school will be picked up by Bloor.

There will be room for 210 pupils in the single-storey school, which will have seven classrooms, a specialist teaching room for practical subjects such as cookery, a hall, library, garden and wildlife area.

It will also include solar panels and air source heat pumps in line with the county council’s green agenda.

While councillors at the meeting praised the ecological aspects of the school, concerns were raised about parking at pick-up and drop-off times.

Under the plans, only 10 spaces will be provided for those doing the school run.

Councillor for the area, David Bill, pictured, said at the meeting: “The proposed new school is very welcome. There is a dearth of primary school places across the whole of the urban area and this is really needed.

“I do have concerns, though, about parking. As we all know, parking is a problem outside every primary school and some high schools across much of the county.

“We have parents in the morning crowding in to drop their youngsters off and then in the afternoon the queue for the picking up starts way before closing time and people jostle and there is a degree of unpleasantness.”

Coun Bill said that, once the school reaches capacity, there might be problems caused by the limited number of spaces.

He asked if more space could be set aside for parking, and gave the adjacent field as a suggestion.

However, council officer Becky Knighton said the planning department felt the 10 spaces were “sufficient and in line with policy”. Concerns were also raised about the staggered approach to filling the school.

In the first year, only the reception class would be in attendance.

As these pupils moved through the year groups, a new year would be brought in.

Some councillors said this might cause problems for families with more two or more young children of different ages as they would be required to do the school run to separate schools.

Council officers said this approach was often taken for practical reasons, so there would not be the risk of some year groups only having a few pupils.

Councillors unanimously approved the plans at Thursday’s meeting.

Along with the new school, the housing development will also have shops and community facilities such as sport pitches, parkland, children’s play areas and allotments.