East End villagers oppose new classroom at village school

St Martin’s Primary School’s application to build a single-storey double classroom was submitted to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council in March, and includes two classrooms, one to replace the current reception classroom and another to reinstate the school library and a study room, both of which have temporarily been converted to small classrooms.
One of the villagers said that there was extreme objection to the plans, which are being opposed by 19 households in a village of just 30 houses.
They object to development of the Stargrove Lane site with fears that it would bring about an increased number of vehicles dropping off and collecting children from the school, in an area where agricultural machinery (pictured) and horse riders share the narrow lanes with motorists.
The application is the fifth over the past 20 years to extend the school, where the catchment area is far wider than the small village, where fewer than half of the children live.
The villager added that as it was “a good school, it has applications from Thatcham, Bucklebury and all over the place.
“People pile into an area they don’t know, and take over the rural community.”
However, the headteacher, Peter Shelton, said that 115 pupils were enrolled at the school, 40 per cent of whom came from the parish, with the remainder living primarily in Kintbury, Inkpen, Highclere and the southern fringes of Newbury.
He said that it was ridiculous to suggest that any children came from Thatcham, or Bucklebury.
“The school has no children from further afield,” said Mr Shelton.
Rush-hour parking was a problem outside every school in the country and, as the school had grown during its 175-year existence, traffic had increased, he said.
“If you choose to live near a school, or travel past schools, you have to accept this as part of the short-term challenge.”
The build at the Church of England school was to be funded by the Winchester/Portsmouth diocese, but Mr Shelton has said that a decision on this was also still pending.
The National Audit Office has highlighted the need for more than 250,000 new school places countrywide by the autumn of 2014 – 240,000 of them in primary schools – owing to a boom in birth rates.
In a recent statement, Hampshire County Council said that 97.76 per cent of children had been given a place at one of their preferred choices across the county, to start in September, despite more than 14,000 applications.
After planners insisted on more information about the application owing to the level of objection, it is now likely to go before borough councillors for a decision in July.