Green light for new Hatfield primary school
PLANS to build a new free school in Hatfield have been given the thumbs up by Hertfordshire County Council.
Six years on from the closure of New Briars Primary School in Briars Lane, members of Hertfordshire County Council’s development control committee today (Tuesday) voted unanimously in favour of an application to create a new, two form entry school on the site.
The proposals would see the existing school demolished, and replaced with a single storey building for 420 pupils, complete with new pupil drop-off facility, changes to vehicle access, new pedestrian access to Woods Avenue and re-grading of school playing fields.
A nursery for 60 pre-school children, with 30 attending in the morning and 30 in the afternoon, will also be included.
In 2005, staff and students were evacuated from New Briars amid fears the school could collapse into historic chalk mines beneath the site.
You may also want to watch:
The school relocated and later amalgamated with Stream Woods JMI to create Oak View School in Woods Avenue.
Amid worries about the safety of the site, Chay Dempster, principal planning officer, said: “The ground subsidence affecting the site was remediated in 2008,” he said.
Most Read
- 1 9 things you didn’t know about the making of Band of Brothers
- 2 Do you remember when Grange Hill was filmed in Hatfield?
- 3 When is Team GB cycling star Laura Kenny in action at Tokyo 2020 Olympics?
- 4 Dangerous Welwyn Garden City domestic abuser who slashed ex-girlfriend's throat jailed
- 5 Welwyn Garden City named Hertfordshire’s sexiest place
- 6 Council named wrong town planner as Garden City's principle creator
- 7 Safety check and risk assessment failings for hundreds of Welwyn Hatfield council houses
- 8 The latest court results for Welwyn Hatfield and Potters Bar
- 9 Train services resume after earlier disruption at Royston
- 10 Report shows staggering increase in fly-tipping across Herts over past year
Several councillors also expressed concerns over potential traffic problems created by the new school, and agreed to the plans on the condition that a solution was found to what committee chairman Richard Smith called the “inevitable congestion” in Briars Lane.
