Meeting documents

The Chairman declared an interest in the Denham Infant School application as he was the local member for the Denham area.

Ms A Herriman, Senior Planning Officer, gave a presentation on the application which sought approval for application number CC/0029/18 – Denham Infant School.

Ms Herriman stated that there had been a few updates from consultees, as a result of a consultation due to slight amendments to the drawings, which had been received following the publication of the Committee report.  They were as follows:

• South Bucks District Council (SBDC) still objected to the application as it conflicted with Green Belt policy and the school was a listed building.
• The Flood Management Team had no change to previous comments.
• Denham Parish Council had no objection subject to the resurfacing of the access road to the Way and Tillard Recreation ground on completion.  It was proposed that this was included within the Construction Traffic Management plan with photos to be taken of the access road before and after completion to show any changes in the condition. 
• Archaeology - no change to previous comments.
• Rights of Way - to ensure that any new trees planted on the northern boundary were tobe of the species that grew upwards rather than up and over crossing the footpath.

Ms Herriman provided further clarification on SBDC’s objections as follows:

• Even though the school site was in the Green Belt, it was in a built up area with houses to all sides.
• The District Council objected due to the impact of the development on the openness of the Green Belt. 
• As a result of the location of the school and the proposed development at the school and the fact it was in a built up area, it was believed that the benefits of the proposed development were greater than potential harm on the openness of the Green Belt.
• Listed building status - as already stated in the report in paragraph 8.26, reference was made to paragraph 196 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) where proposed development to listed buildings must bring more benefits than harm to the listed building.  This was the case in this instance as the proposed extensions would make better use of the school, enable pupils to pursue their primary education up to the age of 11 in one place and provide more junior school places.  It would also reduce traffic issues in the area and would provide provision for new housing in the area in the future.  Paragraph 94 of the NPPF stated that parents should have wider choice of schools.  The paragraph was quoted as below:

"It is important that a sufficient choice of school places is available to meet the needs of existing and new communities. Local planning authorities should take a proactive, positive and collaborative approach to meeting this requirement, and to development that will widen choice in education.  They should give great weight to the need to create, expand or alter schools through the preparation of plans and decisions on applications; and work with schools promoters, delivery partners and statutory bodies to identify and resolve key planning issues before applications are submitted."

Therefore this proposed application would be meeting these requirements. 

• A listed building consent had been approved by the District Council subject to conditions relating to materials and design of the building being in keeping with the character of the Listed Building.  These were incorporated in the proposed planning conditions with this application.

The presentation contained photographs and Ms Herriman highlighted the following:

·      The current condition of the access road to the Way and Tillard Recreation ground.

·      The location of Denham Infant School just outside the Conservation Area of the village.  It was just north of the A40 and the M25 junction.

·      The proposed site plan of the school showing the hall, proposed CDT/IT block and extra parking and the trees to be removed and site of the new trees.  The carriage way would be narrowed as part of the plans to make the pavement wider to improve the access to the access road leading to the Way and Tillard Recreation Ground. 

·      The proposed extensions and proposed internal works.

·      The elevations of the proposed hall.

·      The elevations of the proposed CDT/IT block.

·      The context of the proposed development on the existing building.

·      A photo facing west which showed the frontage of the school on Cheapside Lane – the listed building

·      Cheapside Lane facing south from the front of the school.

·      Cheapside Lane facing north from the front of the school.

·      The footpath on the northern boundary of the school site heading towards the cricket ground.

·      Facing east across the cricket ground.

·      The existing car park.  It was proposed to add more spaces where the play equipment was on the right.

·      The proposed location of the CDT/IT block.

·      The access into the car park and the proposed location of the CDT/IT block.  The removal of the tree in the foreground was proposed.

·      The access gates.

·      The access road to the Way and Tillard Recreation Ground (leading to the cricket ground).

·      The access road leading towards Cheapside Lane.

·      The entrance to the access road off Cheapside Lane and the location of where the carriage way would be narrowed to allow the widening of the pedestrian path.

·      Facing north showing location of the proposed hall.

·      Facing north-west showing the location of the proposed hall.

A Member of the Committee asked for clarification on why the proposed application should be allowed to be taken out of the Green Belt and to be shown which areas were in the Green Belt.  Ms Herriman showed the locality of the school on the map in relation to where the cricket ground was. 

The Chairman added that he was the local member for Denham and that he totally supported the view expressed by the officers, mainly because SBDC had consulted on giving up the Green Belt less than 500m from the Denham school site, in their emerging local plan. The Chairman commented that there was incongruity in the local area plan on giving up areas of the Green Belt on a site almost adjacent to this one.  Ms S Winkels, Planning and Enforcement Manager stated that the development was within the Green Belt but the location was in a built up area, not in an open part of the Green Belt and the land was not being taken out of the Green Belt. 

A Member of the Committee commented that this type of application would be happening more often in the future due to the increase in housing and that it was important to understand the benefits of the extra provision for the children.  Ms Herriman referred to paragraph 8.15 of the report which stated the following justifications:

• It would secure the long term future of the school.
• The investment in the school facilities would enhance the school’s attraction in the local community.
• There would be reduced home to school transport, by having two schools on one site. 
• The school would provide greater opportunity for after school clubs and social activities.
• It was important to offer parents a wider choice of education and the proposal would support the local authority’s duty to provide sufficient school places. 

The Chairman added that he had been Chairman of the Governing Body of a school in Denham Green who had ten children on the waiting list for the reception year which emphasised the need for the extra school places provided if Denham Infant School were to become a combined school.  There was an absolute need from an educational perspective for this extension to prevent families travelling long distances.

In response to a query on the number of children the school would accommodate if the application were approved, Ms Herriman advised there would be 45 places in Key Stage One and  60 places in Key Stage Two.

Mr Clare proposed the approval of the application subject to the conditions set out in Appendix A and the following vote was recorded.

RESOLVED:  The Committee unanimously AGREED to APPROVE application number CC/0029/18 subject to the conditions set out in Appendix A.