Agenda item

The Committee received a report which sought planning permission for the construction of a new classroom and to carry out internal remodelling works to create access to the new block and convert an existing classroom to provide library facilities at St. Michael's Church of England Primary School, Thorpe on the Hill.

Officers guided members through the report and set out the main issues to be considered in the determination of this application.

Naomi Weaver, Headteacher at St Michael's Church of England Primary School, spoke in favour of the application and made the following points:

·         The school served the village and surrounding areas, 90% of the children travelled into the village.

·         The current number on roll was 180 and there had been no rapid increase as it had only risen from 162 in 2014/15

·         The new classroom was not to increase capacity of the school but to provide space for a library and intervention space to target teach children.

·         It was highlighted that there was building on three sites in the village which would undoubtedly bring children who would attend the school, but they would be able to walk.

·         17 comments had been received, only four of them had been from villagers who had concerns, the remaining ones were positive and were from both villagers and parents.

·         The concerns highlighted in the four negative comments included speed and volume of traffic and school parking; that the new classroom was for the new homes being built and not for the village children, and also highlighted the village being used as a rat run, speed of vehicles, volume of builders and farm traffic; all these comments highlighted concerns of the volume and speed of traffic as the primary concern.  Two of these comments highlighted issues with abusive parents, however this was something the school could not control, it only related to a minority of parents and parents were regularly reminded of the need to be courteous to other road users.

·         Concerns which had been raised by the parish council had been addressed and it was reported that an action group had now been set up with a parish council representative, and the school was working with the community; the annual meeting had only raised a single issue, speed and volume of traffic, rather than anything parking or school related; the travel plan had been reviewed and resubmitted which received praise from the approving officer, and the school sought specialist support in order to complete this work; parking at Whisby had been suggested by the Parish Council, however, the ability to park there had now been withdrawn by Whisby; some villagers believed that the school parking slowed down traffic and made it safer; the issues on surrounding roads were often caused by through traffic, not parking.

·         At the end of January 2019 water works started in Thorpe on the Hill which closed the main rat run through the village.  This caused a danger as the road outside the school became a new ratrun and highlighted that the issue was not school parking but volume and speed of traffic through the village.

·         The travel plan was put on hold as the situation needed to be readdressed. 

·         The new plan was in place from January to March 2019 – a walking bus from Whisby was put in place but had to wait until after rush hour which made the children late; parents were also encouraged to park and stride from Oliver Roper Centre, which worked well whilst the road was closed; two drop off points were offered at the top and bottom of school lane, however this was labour intensive and became more difficult once the road reopened.

·         At a meeting set up in February/March 2019 which was attended by almost 150 people, it was agreed that the bigger issues were volume and speed of traffic and school traffic/parking.  As a result, an action group was set up which included representatives from the school, community and the parish council.

·         The action group had already had successes with community gates being erected sooner, extra speed awareness signs being put up in the village, there was a campaign running for a 20mph zone around the school, community speed watch was in place and the traffic was being monitored by the Road Safety Partnership in order to gather more information regarding speed and volume.

·         The action group met regularly and the community was working together.

·         It was the belief of the action group that the issue was speed and volume of traffic in Thorpe on the Hill and if that could be addressed then the school parking and traffic would improve.

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the applicant and the following was noted:

·         It was queried whether the walking bus was a permanent fixture and how many young people benefitted.  Members were advised that the parking at Whisby had currently been withdrawn, but between 60 – 70 children were walking from Whisby.  Between 20 – 25 children were walking from Oliver Roper Centre.  Long term, the school would like to offer this from the Whisby end of the village as more people travelled from that end of the village.  Work was being done on how to manage the speed issues.

·         It was pleasing to hear that a school had ambition and was working with the community.  As the county council, there was a need to provide schools with the best facilities that it could to ensure that children were educated to the best of their abilities.

·         This was not an additional classroom, but an enhancement which would give the school back its library function.

·         That the school was working with the community to improve traffic volume and speed was important work and it could have wider benefits for communities.

·         Speed and parking around schools was an issue around the county, and a strong correlation between speed and accidents was acknowledged.

·         One member commented that they would like to support the application as it was an opportunity to put a proper library back in-house.

On a motion proposed by Councillor I G Fleetwood, seconded by Councillor Mrs M J Overton MBE it was:-

RESOLVED (unanimous)

            That planning permission be granted.