Parents and pupils' relief as Northamptonshire village school shelves plans to extend car park into playground
Parents to pupils at Little Harrowden Community Primary School have expressed relief after plans that could have converted around one third of the school’s playground into a car park have been withdrawn.
Plans were submitted to install a near-300 sqm car park, which would have taken up around 30 per cent of the current playground, however the school faced significant backlash from parents who criticised the decision.
One commenter said the playground is ‘essential for children's physical development, social interaction, and mental well-being’, and several noted that the road into the school is too narrow for vehicles to regularly and easily access the proposed car park.
Currently 43 comments have been left on the application, all of which oppose the plans.
Michelle Brown is the mother of two girls who attend the school. She said: “It’s a huge issue to our children and future generations. They are encouraged by school to ask ‘is it kind, is it safe, is it right.’
"It’s been great seeing parents pull together to save the playground for future generations.”
Little Harrowden Community Primary has said it still intends to resurface the existing playground together with new line markings, and introduce a new ‘eco classroom’ which are hoped to be completed ’during the summer holidays.’
However, a letter sent to parents today (May 20) and seen by the Northants Telegraph from headteacher Beth Renshaw confirms the expansion of the car park is no longer included in the future developments.
Ivy and Hazel Westland-Brown, both nine, wrote letters to save the playground, but after hearing the plans had been changed, they said: “I am happy because there won’t be as much pollution up at the school, which is safer for us and the environment. I am overjoyed as we won’t be colliding with bigger children.”
“I am so relieved, the butterflies in my stomach have gone. I love playing tag with my friends, we play nearly every day.”
Little Harrowden Primary was one of the two schools that were considered for relocation after the school facility in the new Glenvale Park estate in Wellingborough was deemed surplus to requirement based on Northamptonshire schools’ current intake.
Instead, Wilby CE Primary made the move, despite only having around one quarter of the students on its school roll than the 420 that Glenvale Park Primary could accommodate.
The plans to take up a portion of the playground for the car park also included the installation of a 2.4-metre high secure fence on the premises.