Brighton and Hove primary school expects decision on planning permission for new site today

A primary school looks likely to learn today (Wednesday 4 June) whether it can move to a new home on a brownfield site on the edge of Hove Park.

The Bilingual Primary School has applied for planning permission for permanent premises to be put up in place of the old depot buildings there.

A report to planners recommends granting permission for the two-storey building where children will be taught in English and Spanish from the age of 4 to 11.

If approved, it will be built on the scruffy land down the hill from the Engineerium and next to the City Park offices, in The Droveway, where Legal and General is based.

The oversubscribed school is currently based in a temporary home at the Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA) in Falmer which it is rapidly outgrowing.

The bilingual school withdrew an earlier planning application after neighbours objected to the original three-storey design. They also raised concerns about traffic and parking.

The latest application has attracted 100 letters of objection and 210 in support. A petition opposing the scheme garnered 31 signatures.

The two Conservative ward councillors, Jayne Bennett and Vanessa Brown, have written a letter setting out their objections while one of their party colleagues, Andrew Wealls, has written in support.

Councillor Vanessa Brown

Councillor Brown approved the site for use as a school when she was the Brighton and Hove City Council cabinet member for children and young people.

But she and Councillor Bennett wrote: “Hove Park ward has already been seriously affected by parking problems caused by the City Park development.”

They said that the morning rush-hour traffic already queued along Goldstone Crescent and Nevill Road.

They added: “There has been a vast increase in the volume of traffic generated since Waitrose opened.”

The school pointed out that there were now parking restrictions in Goldstone Crescent and that its school day starts after the rush-hour has ended.

Councillor Wealls wrote: “The school is located close to an area of the city in which there is an extreme shortage of primary places.

“There are no sites in the city at which new school provision will have no impact on traffic movements.

“This proposed development meets all the requirements set by the range of transport policies in the approved Local Plan.”

He would like to see the Old Shoreham Road traffic lights rephased to cope with southbound traffic queueing at peak periods.

The school said that so many parents lived in Hove that there would be fewer car journeys if it moved to the proposed site.

The report to the council’s Planning Committee recommends approval subject to conditions. These include a contribution of more than £200,000 towards improvements to nearby roads, pavements and junctions.

The committee is due to meet in public at Hove Town Hall at 2pm today.

To read the report, click here.