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schools in focus INDEPENDENT NEWS
indEPEndEnT uPdaTE loCal nEWS
Goings on in the world of independent and private schools Boarding at
Worcestershire school gets £3m boost
BROMSGROVE SCHOOL
Work has started on a £3m project to create new residential accommodation for sixth formers at Bromsgrove School – a leading independent coeducational day and boarding school in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. The development will create 49 study bedrooms in two two-storey blocks for sixth-form boarding house Housman Hall. The first new building will be completed in october with work on the second due to be finished by the end of august 2014. The state-of-the-art facilities, designed by Warwick-based Robothams architectural practice and built by Rugby-based construction company Stepnell, will replace two existing boarding wings. The old central house at Housman Hall – formerly the home of old Bromsgroviana E Housman – will be unaffected by the scheme.
The Government is to relax the planning regulations surrounding free schools, enabling them to operate from almost any building without planning permission for up to a year.
The decision, announced by
communities and local government secretary Eric Pickles earlier this month, is designed to give schools the confidence and certainty that they can open in good time for the new September 2013 academic year. Karen Cooksley, partner and head of Winckworth Sherwood’s planning team, said: “The Government has said that it will enable free schools to benefit from permitted development rights and occupy buildings, such as offices and hotels, for up to a year whilst they wait for formal planning consent.” The proposed changes will also make it
easier for free schools to convert empty and under-used buildings into schools, with local
PICTURE STORY
BROMSGROVE COLCHESTER
Free schools to benefit from relaxed planning rules
authorities able to require limited assessments that consider just noise and traffic. Cooksley adds: “The planning process surrounding schools is complex and it can take many months, if not years, for a new school to secure the consents it needs to convert buildings. These proposals are designed, in part, to ensure that schools can open on time. They will provide confidence for free school promoters, teaching staff and, more importantly, parents and pupils.” it is also likely that successful free schools once up and operating will be able to apply for further permitted development rights’ extensions to enable them to continue beyond the initial 12-month window, should planning permission remain unresolved.
To date, 80 free schools have opened and a further 100 are expected to join them by the start of the 2013/14 academic year. The new rules will be introduced in June.
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april 2013 \
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Pupils from St Mary’s Schools for Girls in Colchester met popular scientist Professor Brian Cox at the John Collier Lecture at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London on 26 February. The subject of Professor Cox’s lecture was ‘The Value of Scientific Exploration’ and afterwards he received the seventh John Collier Medal, in recognition of his services to science
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