School expansion gets green light
St Peter's School, Budleigh. Picture by Alex Walton. Ref exb 1496-01-14AW - Credit: Archant
Plans for a major expansion of St Peter’s School have been rubber-stamped by district planners.
The plan is for the school, in Moor Lane, to expand onto the adjacent drill hall site, in a scheme which could eventually see six new classrooms being built.
The plan was previously supported by Budleigh Salterton Town Council, and now East Devon District Council has granted planning approval.
The school’s intention is for the classrooms to be built in stages, with the first two opening in September 2015, and the rest being built as funding becomes available, allowing the school to replace four mobile classrooms on its site, and take on new pupils from major housing developments in the town.
The school currently has places for 240 pupils, plus a 52-place nursery, but from September this year its intake will increase from 35 to 40, with the potential for this to increase to 45 in the long term.
You may also want to watch:
The school’s chairman of governors John Beaumont said it was hoped building work would start late next year, with the opening of the first two classrooms in 2015 coinciding with the laying of the groundwork for the other classrooms, ready to be built as the funding is made available by Devon County Council.
He said the school was ‘very pleased indeed’ to have received planning permission, and added that the replacement of the mobile classrooms would be: “Better for the children, and for the staff as well.”
Most Read
- 1 Government scraps proposals to increase house building quota in East Devon
- 2 Exmouth goes underground – designer creates town tube map
- 3 There are some hard truths we need to accept about the pandemic
- 4 Smiles of hope as care home residents and staff receive their first vaccine
- 5 A new arrival for Christmas at the Sampson household
- 6 New year, new partnerships and opportunity - Laura Woodward-Drake
- 7 Reduced timetables for trains on Avocet Line, GWR announces
- 8 Stunning sunrise and sunset entries submitted for joint chamber contest
- 9 Police warning over fake Covid-19 vaccine texts scam
- 10 Budleigh Coronavirus Community Lifelines
Headteacher Malcolm Elliot previously said the new buildings would provide the school’s pupils with 21st century facilities in which to learn.