‘Much needed’ Waverley School extension plans met with objections from residents

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Plans to extend an oversubscribed primary school have been met with objections from residents.

Waverley Junior Academy opened in September 2020 after the new housing development was built at the former Orgreave Colliery and Coking Works between Handsworth and Catcliffe.

Parents expressed their anger after demand for places left 27 youngsters without a school place in 2022.

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Parents who thought they would be able to walk their children to school when they bought their new homes had to send them to schools in nearby villages, and organised themselves into a group to campaign on the issue.

Waverley Junior AcademyWaverley Junior Academy
Waverley Junior Academy

Under the scheme, a two-storey extension fronting Highfield Lane will include three new classrooms on each floor for key stage one and two pupils, as well as toilets.

A separate extension on the east of the building will include a new nursery room, staff office, and a larger entrance.

The current nursery room will be used as a reception classroom.

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Once the extension is complete, the school will be able to accommodate 675 pupils – 175 more than the 500 that currently attend, with a further 14 staff members.

However, the plans have met with objections over parking, noise and pollution.

One resident wrote to RMBC to say that the extension would ‘obstruct the picturesque views’ from their property, and another said it would ‘devalue their property’.

Others say parking is already ‘chaotic and dangerous’, and called for double yellow lines around the school.

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However, letters of support were also sent to the council, stating that the extra places are ‘much needed’.

Waverley Community Council says it welcomes the plans, but raised concerns over the impact on residents, and has requested that the council look into ways to encourage active travel to and from the school, in a bid to reduce traffic and parking issues.

Planning officers, who say the plans should be approved by councillors, add that the school has an active travel plan in place to ‘reduce the reliance on cars for both staff and pupils’.

They add that the roads around the school are unadopted and therefore not within the council’s responsibility, so it has no power to enforce double yellow lines or parking restrictions.

The plans will be decided at the next meeting of RMBC’s planning board on June 6.

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