Archived decisions

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Decision Report

1. Executive Summary

1.1. Planning permission is required to construct a temporary Primary School on land on the East Anton Major Development Area, north east of East Anton Manor Farm, East Anton, Andover, until the permanent Primary School is constructed on the adjoining site. (Application No. 09/02199/HCC3N). The temporary school is required to provide pupil spaces from Easter 2010 as the new housing becomes gradually populated. The County Council's Children's Services has identified a need to accommodate 105 pupils from April 2010 rising to 210 pupils in September 2010.

1.2. Issues: Major development, compliance with the adopted Local Plan and parking.

1.3. Reason for decision: It is considered the proposal would be in accordance with Policy AND 01.4 (Community Facilities East of Icknield Way) of the adopted development plan (summary attached in Appendix C) in that the provision of a new permanent primary school is to be provided on the site as indicated in the East Anton Major Development Area, Andover.

2. Site and proposals

2.1. The site (see attached location plan) was previously an arable field which is on a gentle south facing slope within the northern part of the East Anton Major Development Area (MDA). The site is open at present and only has some small scrub; there are no trees or hedges on the site. The land owner and developer, Taylor Wimpey has commenced construction of the housing which is allocated to the south of the site. The road network including some footways, have also been partly completed - there is a road with footway and street lighting in front of the proposed school site.

2.2. The full and complete infrastructure for Phase 1 of the MDA including the proposed new Local Centre to the west of the school site will follow according to the terms and requirements of Taylor Wimpey's planning approval under application TVN 09258.

2.3. Buildings - before the new permanent Primary School building can be constructed, it will be necessary to provide a temporary school using single storey prefabricated classrooms. (A detailed scheme is currently being worked up for the permanent school buildings and an application will be submitted as soon as possible.) The size of the phase 1 temporary buildings will provide 528 square metres of floorspace with an additional 194 square metres of floorspace for phase 2, making a total of 722 square metres. Phase 1 will comprise the visitor entrance and reception, administration accommodation, four classrooms, the main hall and kitchen. The phase 2 buildings will add a further three classrooms to cater for the anticipated rise in pupil numbers. Both phases will include accessible ramps, toilets and other facilities to ensure that they are Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) compliant.

2.4. Car parking and highway - as part of the proposal, it will be necessary to provide a car park on site for 11 spaces to service the 12 fte. staff at the school - this is based on the 7 classrooms to be provided and is in line with the County Council standard of 1.5 spaces per classroom. The car park will be constructed during phase 1 of the temporary school construction programme to ensure that safety risk and disruption to the school is minimised during the phase 2 delivery of classrooms. The car park bays will be surfaced using a geogrid grass re-inforcement system which will be constructed on a Sustainable Drainage System (SUDS) compliant gravel construction. This will allow safe percolation of rain water into the sub-base and will ensure that petrol contamination of the underlying aquifer is prevented. The car park will be fully removed on completion of the new permanent school.

2.5. The adjacent road which has street lighting, has been designed by the developer of the housing development, to provide low speed movement of cars in the vicinity of the school. Whilst care has been taken to ensure that the use of cars is deterred by provision of a comprehensive footpath and cycle path network, it is also envisaged that the adjacent road will provide safe and adequate drop-off parking for the school.

2.6. Site boundaries - the northern, eastern and southern boundaries of the site will be enclosed using the final permanent fencing systems; the eastern one is to be a 1.8 metre high solid timber close board fence which would afford some privacy to adjacent properties once they are constructed. The northern and southern boundaries are to be 1.8 metre high open mesh panel fencing, but the temporary western boundary to adjoin the permanent school building, will be secured using "Heras" type or similar panels which are securely propped and covered in debris netting. The vehicle gates are to be retained as the future playing field maintenance access gates.

2.7. Earthworks and landscape - it is intended to provide a properly laid out sports field in the north east part of the site and north of the temporary school buildings. However, although the majority of the new sports field can be provided, it would be fully completed once the temporary school buildings are removed. Since the land has a gentle slope it will be necessary to carry out some re-grading of this particular part of the site so that the sports field would be fully levelled and then eventually finished to a very high standard all in accordance with Sport England guidance note "Natural Turf For Sport." This will include the incorporation of recycled soil amelioration compost into the playing field surface and establishment of a comprehensive maintenance programme. The overall area of the playing field surface will be approximately 5160 square metres. The ground currently has flinty stoney topsoil which will be fully screened to make it safe for use as the sports field. Stones removed during this process are to be used within the drainage scheme for the main school development. In addition to the sports field, general amenity grass, a wildflower meadow area and a temporary tarmac playcourt base are to be provided.

2.8. No land drainage is envisaged beneath the playing field surface as the underlying gravel sub-soil layer and chalk strata is of a good free-draining material.

2.9. Drainage - once the permanent school is constructed and the temporary buildings removed, the drainage strategy for the temporary school phase allows for the continued use of the rainwater storage/soakaways. Foul water will drain into the public surface water sewer within the adopted highway network. Clean roof water is to be discharged into deep bore soak-aways beneath the raised temporary buildings since the development lies on a chalk strata.

2.10. Archaeology - the site lies to the north of the old Portway Roman road but archaeological investigations indicate that the proposed temporary school and the permanent school sites are not likely to need archaeological mitigation. However, in the event finds are discovered advice will be sought. The County Archaeologist confirms this is acceptable.

3. Development Plan

3.1. Test Valley Borough Local Plan 2006 (adopted June 2006) shows the site as a proposed new primary school, within the East Anton Major Development Area, north east of and adjoining the main built-up Andover area. The site is technically still within the defined Countryside. The relevant Policies are;

AND 01.4 (Community Facilities East of Ickneild Way)
SET 03 (Development in the Countryside), and;
DES 05 (Layout and Building Design).

4. Consultations

4.1. Test Valley Borough Council has no objection to the proposal. (No conditions have been requested.)

4.2. Smannell Parish Council has no objection in principle but "raise a concern about the lack of information regarding parent parking and for any school buses/coaches turning and parking."

4.3. The Highway Authority has no highway or transport objections to the proposal. It is considered that the proposed eleven car parking spaces for staff is acceptable and is in line with the County Council standards of 1.5 spaces per classroom. In addition, the new highway running to the south east of the school boundary has been specifically designed to accommodate some short term parking to allow for the inevitable morning and afternoon drop-off and pick-up activity.

4.4. The Local Member Councillor Mutton has asked if there will be ample parking for cars and would a bus lane be provided?"

4.5. Environment Agency has no objection in principle but request a planning condition is attached to any consent issued, for the submission of a surface water drainage scheme based on sustainable drainage (SUDS) principles to include an assessment of the hydrological and hydro-geological context of the development. However, they have noted the application as submitted proposes the use of SUDS for the car park area and are satisfied with this. In addition, the system must be designed so that it will not allow pollutants from entering groundwater since potable supplies are therefore at risk.

5. Representations

5.1. No representations have been received.

6. Commentary

6.1. The proposed Primary School is shown on the adopted Local Plan as being within the approved East Anton Major Development Area, Andover. In order to provide appropriate accommodation in the interim before a permanent school is built, the temporary school will be provided and has to be ready for April 2010. Phase 2 of the temporary accommodation due for occupation in September 2010, will provide a further three classrooms to complement the main set of temporary classrooms, etc. As the proposed development is temporary pending the construction of the permanent school buildings have been provided, the development in principle is acceptable.

6.2. The comments from the Parish Council and local County Councillor are about parking, school buses and coaches, and provision of a bus lane.

6.2. There will be eleven staff parking spaces provided on site but no parent parking. This is judged to be sufficient in light of the temporary nature of the development and that the situation can be monitored to inform the design of the permanent school.

6.3. The road which lies to the south east of the proposed temporary school has been designed by the developer to provide low speed movement of cars in the vicinity of the school. Whilst great care has been taken to ensure that the use of cars is deterred by provision of a comprehensive footpath and cycle path network, it is also envisaged that the adjacent road will provide safe and adequate drop-off parking for the school.

6.4. No bus lanes would be provided as the development is not large enough to require one and Children Services have advised the children attending the temporary school and in due course the permanent one should be from within the new housing development.

7. Recommendation

7.1. That planning permission for provision of a temporary school on the East Anton Major Development Area at land to the north east of East Anton Manor Farm, East Anton, Andover, (Application No. 09/02199/HCC3N) be granted subject to the conditions in Appendix B.

Links to the Corporate Strategy

CONDITIONS

Time Limit

8. The temporary buildings for Phase 1 and 2 hereby permitted, shall be for a limited period of three years expiring on 31 January 2012 or when the permanent Primary School on the adjoining land is constructed and becomes occupied whichever is the sooner. At the end of this period the temporary buildings shall be completely removed from the site.

Reason: To comply with Section 91 (as amended) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and, the permanent school buildings are constructed and occupied, will not require the temporary accommodation to be on site.

Car Parking

9. Before the temporary school buildings are occupied, the staff temporary car park shall have been provided and made available for use. The parking area shall be retained for that use. On completion of the new permanent school buildings, the temporary car park area shall be removed.

Reason: To provide a satisfactory development.

Fencing

3. Before the temporary school is brought into use, the different types of boundary fencing of the site as mentioned in the submitted Supporting Statement which accompanied the planning application, shall have been erected and subsequently maintained.

Reason: To provide a satisfactory development.

Archaeology

4. During the ground works to carry out the development including levelling of land and provision of soakaways, in the event any archaeological findings are located, work shall temporarily cease and contact made with the Senior Archaeologist of the Local Planning Authority.

Reason: The site lies close to the route of the former Portway Roman road.

Drainage

5. The surface water drainage system shall be designed to control run-off and prevent flooding of property in up to a 1 in 100 year storm event. The system must be designed such that it will not allow pollutants from entering the groundwater. The system shall be designed to meet the Sustainable Drainage System (SUDS) and all precautions must be taken during construction and afterwards to prevent spillages to ground as potable supplies are at risk from pollution.

Reason: The site lies above the Upper Chalk Formation, a principle aquifer and within the ground water source protection zone 2 for the Andover public water supply.

Note to applicant.

The Environment Agency requires that before the development is commenced, they are consulted on the design of the roof water drainage system as the current proposal is to use a deep soakaway.

Annexe to Reason for Conditions

(as required by Article 22 of the Town and Country Planning

(General Procedure) Order 1995 - as amended)

TEST VALLEY BOROUGH LOCAL PLAN 2006 (ADOPTED JUNE 2006)

Policy AND 01.4 (Community Facilities East of Ickneild Way).

Community facilities will be provided in association with the proposed housing development including:

b) a 3 Form Entry Primary School on approximately 2.5 hectares.

Policy SET 03 (Development in the Countryside)

Development in the countryside (i.e. outside the boundaries of settlements defined by Policy SET 01 and shown on the Inset Maps) will only be permitted if:

a) there is an overriding need for it to be located in the countryside.

For developments that require a building or buildings, it must be demonstrated that in the locality there are no existing buildings which are adequate for the proposed use, that reasonably could be made available, have been severed from an existing farm unit or, have recently changed from the proposed use.

Policy DES 05 (Layout and Building Design)

Proposals for development within or adjoining a settlement will be permitted provided that:

a) the scheme integrates with the form and structure of the existing settlement or surrounding area;

b) any public spaces are well defined;

c) the scheme is laid out to provide a clear distinction between public and private spaces;

d) buildings are laid out and relate positively to streets or other public spaces.