New classroom plans for East End primary school on ice

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 parents were informed of the plans in a letter from the school earlier this year.
The headteacher of the Stargrove Lane school, Peter Shelton, said that the plans were for two classrooms, one to replace the current reception classroom, which was “half- classroom and half-conservatory,” The conservatory would be demolished and the remaining classroom space would be converted into smaller rooms for special educational needs and small group work.
The other classroom would provide space to reinstate the school library and a study room, both of which have temporarily been converted to small classrooms.
Due to go before borough councillors for a decision on June 12, the plans were objected to by some 16 East End villagers and planners have now insisted on more information.
Mr Shelton said: “The main concern seems to be around the potential for increased traffic if the school were to grow further, although that is not our intention with this build.”
The build at the Church of England school was to be funded by the Winchester/Portsmouth diocese, but a decision on this was also still awaited.
Should the application be approved, it was nevertheless likely that work would be delayed until next spring, so that the project could be funded over two financial years, rather than one.
Mr Shelton added that parents had not yet been informed of the situation, as there was “nothing specific to inform them about. We had our open sessions where parents could come and view plans and ask about the project, but until we have confirmed planning there seems little value in sharing much news.”
Borough councillor for East Woodhay, Clive Sanders, (Con), who is also the leader of the borough council, said that the objections by East End villagers revolved around concerns about increased traffic in the narrow village lanes, particularly outside the school, where traffic, he said was a terrible problem in the morning and later in the day, when parents parked outside the school to drop off and collect their children.
“There’s nowhere else for them to park. You can’t have children aged five or six wandering down the road unsupervised; they don’t have much alternative,” said Mr Sanders.
“It’s a lovely village school, but built before the time of 4x4s.”
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.