Comment
Draft Local Plan
Representation ID: 16026
Received: 11/05/2016
Respondent: Essex County Council
Sites: 001A, 001B, 003, 005,013B, 039, 040, 041, 044 and 178, 081, 099, 100, 010, 022, 023, 032, 034, 087and 235.
Primary School Capacity - Currently very little surplus capacity Brentwood Town group. Current forecasts indicate a deficit of 94 permanent places by the school year 2019-20. There is limited scope for possible expansion of existing primary schools, many restricted or constrained by the "green belt" or land designated as "special landscape areas" or "conservation areas". Given the Plan is proposing significant release of Green Belt to meet its housing need, ECC considers appropriate consideration should be given to allowing the expansion of existing primary schools and potentially new schools in the Green Belt to meet an identified local need and to minimise unnecessary additional home-to-school journeys on the congested road network at peak times.
As indicated, it is difficult to accommodate level of growth via the expansion of existing schools and it would be prudent to identify a site for a new 2 form of entry (420-place) primary school to accommodate this growth within the Local Plan. This would require a site of 2.1 ha (to include Early Years provision).
See attached