Sheffield school expansion goes ahead despite traffic worries

A meeting of Sheffield City Council planning committee approved plans for a new three-storey classroom block at Silverdale School in Bents Green that would enable the school to take on up to 263 more pupils.

Expansion plans have already been approved for King Ecgbert School in Dore in order to provide a total of 535 new school places for the south-west of the city.

This has been driven by a 25% increase in births between 2002 and 2012, so the extra places are needed in time for 2023.

Building a new school has been ruled out because the birth rate is predicted to decrease again. Council officers also say a new school would not be up and running in time to cope with the extra demand.

Silverdale headteacher Sarah Simms told the committee: “This is desperately needed for children and parents. Silverdale School and King Ecgbert are strategically placed as the most appropriate schools for extra spaces.”

She said the school has already taken on extra pupils using temporary classrooms and said that the overcrowding has an adverse impact on students and is not a permanent solution.

She said that the level of extra pupils increase will gradually over the next seven years, with “no sudden explosion of student numbers”.

She added that the plan will help the school to bring in more students, including sixth formers, from disadvantaged areas in the Abbeydale corridor, Broomhill and Sharrow, which are in the catchment area.

Mrs Simms said that the school is fully in favour of a traffic restriction order that will limit the length of time that cars can stop to drop off or pick up pupils at peak times.

‘Park and stride’ school plan

Silverdale is also working with students on an active travel plan that includes a ‘park and stride’ to drop off pupils away from the school. Mrs Simms said that the school has arranged with a local pub to use its car park.

An extra 10 parking spaces have been included in the plan for the school.

One of the main objections from neighbours is around on-street parking and too much traffic blocking surrounding roads at arrival and departure times.

Coun Tony Downing was worried about road safety. Highways officer Helen Johnson said that staff have looked at local accident figures over the past three years and there was no one cause linking most of them.

She added: “There is a potential problem at high-volume times, which is why we have suggested a traffic restriction order which would mean traffic flowed more freely and you don’t get potential problems of safety such as double parking and people squeezing between cars.”

Coun Barbara Masters urged the school to consult residents to see what ideas they might have to manage traffic.

She was told that there would be a consultation between local people and the council before the traffic restriction order comes into place.

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