"We the undersigned urge the Cabinet to re-consider its decision on the 27 March 2014 to lease Braywick Nature Centre and adjoining land to Bellevue Place Education Trust to enable the establishment of a 210 pupil school.  There was no public consultation or consideration of alternative sites prior to the Cabinet’s decision.  The proposed Hibbert Road site is too small for a school of that size and the proposed infill building represents overdevelopment of the site.   In addition, the future availability of the Nature Centre car park for the public is considered to be at risk, as well as the formal gardens if a 210 pupil school were permitted on the site.

Check out our website www.savebraywickpark.org for more detailed background.

"Consideration should be given to developing a split site school, with the infant school on the former Winbury School site and adjoining land already leased to Bellevue Place Education Trust and a middle school on a separate site.   One possible site is Braywick Meadows, behind the Stafferton Lodge PH in Braywick Park, which had been considered for the relocation of Oldfield School."

There was no public consultation before the RBWM Cabinet decision in March 2014, after which the Council was effectively committed to supporting the scheme to lease this land.

Residents and park users have therefore had no opportunity to say whether they agreed with losing parts of the park or losing the use of the existing Nature Centre building.

Quite apart from the loss of parts of Braywick Park itself, there are many obvious planning policy and highways problems with the present scheme. In brief these include:

• Green Belt policy issues, ie the scheme, prima facie, is ‘inappropriate development’ 
• Loss of public open space 
• The extremely large extension required is more than twice the size of the original Winbury
• School buildings. It is overbearing on immediate residents and adversely affects the openness of the Green Belt. The relationship between the proposed total building area and site area is such that this can only be regarded as a substantial overdevelopment of the site. 
• There is no on site car parking 
• There is no direct acceptable vehicle access to the site and no proper or adequate facility for servicing or deliveries. 
• The proposed arrangements for delivering and picking up pupils is completely unrealistic. In the long term this simply will not work as intended and the school has no way of enforcing it, nor preventing parents from parking in Hibbert Road as the School Travel plan suggests.

These are very valid objections and that essentially this a flawed scheme that falls short not only of normal planning and highway standards, but also of the modern day school requirements in terms of open play areas. In normal circumstances, the chances of a development of this nature being granted planning permission would be just about nil.

Fortunately there is a way in which the school could be developed in a way that ameliorates most of the above objections.

The suggestion is that the school should be developed on a split site basis with the buildings approximately 500 metres apart as shown on the attached plan and as described below:

The alternative proposal:

CLICK HERE FOR MAP SHOWING PROPOSAL

1. The Free School should occupy the upgraded former Winbury School buildings together with the area already leased to provide for reception class plus year’s 1 and 2 (90 pupils). This is site D on the Plan (0.175ha). This could provide for a modest extension as required and would allow for a small amount of on site parking plus some outdoor play space.

2. The Free School should negotiate a lease of part of the Braywick Meadows land (identified as A, B and C on the plan) to provide for a new building to accommodate Years 3 to 6 (120 pupils) This land is owned by RBWM and was identified in the Oldfield School site assessment study as a potentially suitable site, but did not proceed at that time as it was a little remote from that school’s main catchment. The site marked A is presently unused and is 0.385ha in extent. It is thus considerably larger than the whole site for the school in the current scheme which extends to just 0.263ha, including the Nature Centre. This location would permit a more than adequate building, allow for some on site car parking, outdoor play space and crucially would allow direct pupil drop off/collection as proposed in the School Transport Plan, but, for the majority of pupils, without the 500 metre walk currently envisaged. This is of particular importance as the nature of the Free School’s admissions criteria, makes it very likely that the vast majority of pupils will be transported by car (the draft Transport Statement acknowledges this).

3. Braywick Nature Centre can then remain in its present building, thus avoiding the need for an additional building to be constructed in Braywick Park.

The end product would be a far more satisfactory development all round both for the school, parents transporting children, residents and park users. On this basis the school would have a combined site area of 0.56ha, more than double the area currently proposed, which will make for a far more satisfactory development than the present scheme.

Site A is of course still in the Green Belt and a new development would still require special justification, but this would be a much more acceptable scheme overall with the disadvantages of the present scheme having largely been overcome.