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Category: Education
For your information (not least because Hampshire County Council doesn’t put submissions on its website), our response to the planning application for Westgate School.
Executive Summary
While the architecture of the new school buildings is of a high standard – irresponsibly inadequate attention has been given to the traffic, transport and safety issues arising from 420 new primary pupils attending the expanded Westgate School; and the proposed relocation of the nursery school. Planning permission for the new school buildings should be withheld until there is a clear plan, with timetable and budget, for investing in transport infrastructure in the vicinity of the school in order to create a safer environment around the school with new measures to reduce congestion and increase safety in and around Cheriton Road and to make it easier for the majority of the 4-16 year old pupils to walk for some or all of their journey to school or – for the older pupils – to cycle.
The current planning application is not in accordance with paragraph 35 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) that ‘plans should protect and exploit opportunities for the use of sustainable transport modes …[and] should be …designed where practical to give priority to pedestrian and cycle movements’.   Nor is it in accordance with Policy T5 in the Winchester District Local Plan Review (2006) or CP21 in the Winchester District Local Plan Part 1 – Joint Core Strategy.   The creation of 420 new school places is a major development and the planning application currently itemizes little or no investment in off-site highway improvements including new and improved pedestrian and cycling facilities.  In addition the application is not in accordance with the West Fulflood & Orams Arbour Neighbourhood Design Statement (NDS), published in 2008.
The consultation about Winchester’s primary school places is still ongoing at http://www.hants.gov.uk/winchesterprimaryplaces and it’s vital that as many local people as possible respond before the closure date of June 15.
Under both the main scenarios being consulted upon, Fuflood is by far the most affected area in the whole city with either a 100% or 50% increase in local primary places.
I was at the public meeting in Westgate School with our local County Councillor, Phryn Dickens, and fellow City Councillor, Robert Hutchison, and Phryn attended the public meeting at County Hall (unfortunately, it was the same night as a Winchester City Full Council Meeting so the City Councillors couldn’t attend). We have also met council officers and the chair of governors and head teacher of both affected local schools.
While quite a lot of new information has been added to the website since the consultation began, there are still a lot of questions to be answered and extra details needed – particularly on ‘Option B’ where 5 schools are due to be expanded: what exactly are the facilities that we will see in each school under the various options – and what exactly will they cost? Â I’ve also been asking a series of questions about likely catchment areas under the two options.
Phryn has also suggested some extra sites for evaluation and raised questions about the traffic assumptions in the proposal.
In addition to the questions above, I’ve also been asking about traffic, for more information about 4-16 schools and more specific details of the assumed facilities available in Western and Rotherley under both of the scenarios.  I also managed to highlight several developments that had not been included in the county’s calculations. (There’s a whole issue about the linkage between planning of houses and planning of schools which is a real priority for me to sort out as a councillor).
It’s not long to go now. Â The consultation ends tomorrow. If the County Council sticks to its plan to have a decision in July, we should see the proposals from council officers on July 9. Â And the final decision will be made on July 17 by County Councillor Roy Perry. Â The papers for the decision and details of the meeting should be available on this page here. Â I’ll keep reporting on progress via Twitter and on this site.
Hampshire County Council has launched a consultation on primary school places in Winchester – looking at three options:
- Option A: Primary provision as part of The Westgate School
Create a 420 place primary provision on the Rotherly site adjacent to The Westgate School, and change the age range of the school so that it caters for pupils between the ages of 4-16. - Option B: The expansion of existing primary schools
Expand a number of existing schools in the Winchester area. - Option C: Alternative proposals (sic)
Hampshire County Council would welcome proposals for viable alternative options. There are basic criteria these would have to fulfil.
The local Lib Dem County Councillors will shortly be meeting County Council Officers to review the options with them and understand them better.
One question to understand is why Rotherly is the only site put forward. Â Previously (as, for example, when Lanterns was being planned) a range of sites were put forward.
We also want to see more work on the traffic front. Â Currently they’re assuming no increase in traffic from putting a new school at Rotherly which, given how the road looks during the school run currently, before it even has a school on it, seems optimistic.
For the full consultation documents or to complete the consultation survey online visit: www.hants.gov.uk/winchesterprimaryplaces
Open meetings are also planned – both at 7:30 pm – on May 8 at Westgate and on May 15 in the Ashburton Hall, Elizabeth II Court, The Castle.
There will also be drop-in sessions at the County Council offices and at Westgate School. Â Details of the drop-in sessions are here.
Martin Tod, the Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for Winchester, has joined forces with the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) in calling for the Government to ensure new school buildings are suitable for all children to listen and learn in.
As the Government spends billions of pounds on the schools rebuilding programme, NDCS warns that many schools are being built with poor acoustics that do not meet minimum national building standards.
New research shows that good acoustic classrooms improve learning, reduce disruptive pupil behaviour and decrease stress levels of teachers. Yet Freedom of Information data received this year by NDCS showed that only one in five of local authorities could confirm they had built new schools that met the government’s minimum acoustic standards.
At the Liberal Democrat party conference in Bournemouth, Martin Tod met with NDCS to find out what poor acoustics sound like for hearing-impaired pupils – including listening to the attached simulations of the impact that improved acoustics have for hearing-improved children. NDCS is running the Sounds Good? campaign to demand the Government take urgent action to ensure schools are built appropriately for hearing-impaired children, and that the acoustics are tested for quality before they are used.
Martin Tod explained:
“I fully support the NDCS Sounds Good? campaign, and I’m disappointed to hear that so many local authorities are neglecting their responsibility to ensure new school buildings meet national acoustic standards. I was alarmed when I heard the immense difficulties pupils with a hearing impairment face when trying to hear a teacher in a classroom with poor acoustics. We should not be putting children in classes in which they cannot learn. Barriers such as this must be broken down if we want to give deaf children the best chance of achieving their full educational potential.”
Brian Gale, NDCS Director of Policy and Campaigns, added:
“Being able to understand what the teacher is saying is essential to learning. Yet the Government is allowing billions of pounds to be spent on building schools that are unsuitable for children to listen and learn in, and in which deaf children experience particular difficulty. As the majority of deaf children now attend mainstream school, it is crucial that new schools don’t just look good, but sound good. We are calling on the Government to urgently introduce a mandatory test for all new school buildings to ensure they comply with government standards, to stop generations of deaf and hearing children from missing out on a quality education.”