Plans for a new primary school on the Kingsbourne development in Nantwich have been recommended for approval, writes Belinda Ryan.
The one-form entry school, which will accommodate 210 pupils, will be sited on vacant land off Richard Gibson Road.
The proposal is for a modern designed, predominantly single-storey building with a two-storey flat roof section to the front.
It will be a mixture of brick and cladding of varied colours.
The application also includes an additional resources provision for pupils with special educational needs, parking for 26 vehicles and cycle storage and landscaped play areas.
The scheme will be considered at Wednesday’s meeting of Cheshire East’s southern planning committee.
In a report to that meeting, the council’s planning officer states: “The current proposal will be delivering a new primary school in a sustainable location.
“As a result the proposal is acceptable from a pure land use perspective.”
The report says the provision of a primary school on the site was previously secured under an outline application so “the main issue therefore is whether there are any other material considerations such as design, amenity, living conditions etc that outweigh the in-principle support for the proposal”.
The scheme will include a new access to the north eastern boundary off Richard Gibson Road.
Pedestrian access would also be taken off this road but to the north western boundary.
Parking would be at front of the school building, which did raise concerns.
But the report states: “Whilst it would have been preferable to have parking moved away from the frontage this does not appear feasible for this site.”
Eight people have written to Cheshire East to object to the scheme.
Objections include highway safety concerns during pick up and drop off, claims the access is located off a bend in the road, the design is not in keeping with the locality and there is insufficient parking.
The planning officer states the proposal complies with the relevant planning polices and recommended it for approval.
The report states: “The benefits of the proposal would be the provision of further primary education.
“It would also provide benefits to outdoor sport and recreation and community benefits though the playing fields to be provided.
“The development will not have a detrimental impact upon residential amenity, including for future occupants in terms of noise and contaminated land [and] is considered to be acceptable in design terms.”
The southern planning meeting takes place on Wednesday June 28 at 10am at Crewe Municipal Buildings.
(Image by Halliday Meecham Architects)
for a very new school there are a lot of dated ideas here, namely insistence of parking, seems they never learn
Get a life
I hope it is environmentally friendly, ground source heat pump etc.