It will surpise few to learn that the City of Edinburgh Council has granted planning permission to the City of Edinburgh Council for a new, 2-storey modular classroom building in the playground of Broughton Primary School (Ref. 13/04456/FUL).
One member of the public's eloquently blunt representation was typically of many others' disgruntlement:
'I object to the current planning application because it represents a poor attempt to patch over the considerable issue of rising pupil numbers vs space available at Broughton Primary school.
'I do not think the school stands to benefit in anyway from this development, and indeed it may be worse off. The new classrooms will not provide enough space to cater for projected intake, deal with canteen overcrowding and will actually reduce the childrens available play area.
'I believe affordable solutions can be found, but not if money is wasted on these quick-fix classrooms.
'In addition I think that the long term loss of extra playground space while the construction teams take an inevitable year or two longer than planned to complete the job, and the resulting out-of-architectural-context-eyesore which this application intends to dump into school grounds cannot be accepted in any rational, considered circumstance.'
Eight objections were received in total, which an officer's report (see foot of page) categorised as:
Material
- Appearance and impact on a listed building
- Out of character with the surrounding area
- Poor quality of design and inappropriate materials
- Loss of playground space
Non-material
- Short-sighted policy of closing nearby schools
- 154 McDonald Rd should not be sold-off but used to provide much needed non-classroom space
- No demonstration it meets carbon dioxide emission targets
- Additional space does not address school needs, or offer value for money.
Subject to conditions regarding how soon the new classrooms are built, and finalisation of details about materials (and external colour scheme), councillors found that:
'The proposal is for the siting of a free-standing, two-storey building, to provide four additional classrooms with ancillary facilities, within the grounds of the existing school. By reason of the size, form, design and position of the proposals it complies with the relevant provisions of the development plan and associated guidelines.'
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