Decision details

A consultation document was circulated by the Local Authority to seek the views of interested parties on the proposal to permanently expand Bathampton Primary School. The consultation was completed and the Cabinet Member was asked to decide if the Statutory Notice can be published.

The Cabinet Member agrees that the necessary statutory notice for the expansion of Bathampton Primary School can be published

Nine responses were received during the consultation period - seven of these were in support of the proposal, one made some general observations and one was not in support of the proposal.

The school was enlarged on a temporary basis in 2008 by the addition of a temporary building to the school site. A condition of the planning permission granted at that time was that the temporary building would either need to be removed or replaced with a permanent structure after three years. Births and pupil numbers in the city of Bath have risen in recent years and pupil forecasts indicate that the additional places created temporarily will continue to be needed in the future and therefore cannot be removed and must be made permanent.

Before the enlargement can be made permanent, a Statutory Notice must be published as the enlargement of the premises of the school would increase the capacity of the school by both more than 30 pupils and by 25%.

The proposal has the support of the Governing Body who wish to be able to continue to provide this number of places to serve the local community.

The option to remove the temporary building and for it not to be replaced with permanent so that the school reverts to its original size prior to the temporary enlargement, was rejected as the additional places created are projected to be required to accommodate pupils in the future.