North Shropshire school's 'temporary' demountable classroom can stay another 10 years say planners
A temporary classroom at a north Shropshire school could be retained for another ten years after Shropshire Council granted permission for the building to stay.
Trefonen Church of England School near Oswestry has been granted permission to continue using a demountable building as a nursery for a further 'temporary' period of ten years.
The building was put up in 2010, subject to a condition stating it had to be removed by the end of 2023 in order to avoid spoiling views of the area.
The original application granted the school permission to site the demountable timber structure on a former netball court, saying the new nursery would “enhance the facilities at the school” and would not represent and adverse impact on the school’s neighbours.
However, Shropshire Council now says the one-storey building which contains four classrooms can stay, as it has been “well-maintained” and provides flexible accommodation for the school. The school’s pre-school provision operates out of the building on weekdays.
“The building sits within the existing school grounds and is bounded by school buildings to the west and north, the village hall car park to the east. To the south, there are residential dwellings but these are set back behind front gardens/ driveways on the other side of School Lane,” a report by case officer Janet Davies says.
“Any impact upon residential amenity from the existing unit is unlikely to be of a level that would justify refusal of the application.
“Renewal of temporary planning permission has been granted as the nursery is considered to enhance the facilities at the school... and is deemed not to have any adverse impact upon adjoining land users nor the visual amenity of the area.”
The building could now stay in place until 2033 after the variation to the existing planning permission was granted last week.
“The demountable building hereby approved for retention shall be removed from the site on or before December 31 2033 unless further planning permission for it to remain on the site is granted in writing by the Local Planning Authority,” read the decision notice issued by Shropshire Council.
