New middle/secondary school on Bath Road turned down by Slough council

Slough council has turned down an application to create a new middle/secondary school on Bath Road in Slough.

This application was for a change of use from an office - Owen White Solicitors, based in Senate House at 62-70, Bath Road.

The site was used by Owen White Solicitors, which deals with family law issues, until summer this year. The layout included 25 offices.

The applicant currently runs the Durul Madinah school at Darvills Lane, an independent Islamic School with 74 pupils which has been operating since September 2019.

Ofsted’s most recent report for that school was in July, fetching ‘Good’ rating. It will grow to 80 pupils aged four to nine, with 40 children in the nursery.

This junior school, located an 11-minute walk away from the application site, is ‘thriving’ and ‘will need a follow-on establishment as the pupils progress,’ claimed the applicant.

As such, the same management wishes to open a second establishment – a school with an age range of nine to 15 years old (a middle/secondary school.)

“This is an ideal opportunity to provide a useful service to the local community,” the applicant wrote.

There would have been two floors of classrooms – four on each floor, intended to hold a maximum of 12 pupils per class.

Overall, the school was expected to have nine members of staff and 84 pupils. It would have taken on extra year groups in the coming years, planning documents state.

Based on the size of the school, parking provision and predicted usage, the applicants concluded that even if all nine members of staff arrived by car, there would still be seven available car parking spaces.

But Slough Borough Council planning officers disagreed this would be enough parking spaces and raised concerns that there was not an adequate pick-up/drop-off arrangement in place.

As such, it is ‘likely’ to encourage drop off/pick-up from the A4, where the main entrance would be.

“This would be detrimental to safety of vehicle users and pedestrians,” wrote officers.

They also noted the proposal would increase use of the access to the site, located at a busy point on Bath Road.

In the absence of a traffic generation assessment, ‘it would likely result in additional pressure on congestion on Bath Road.’ 

The proposal additionally does not provide outdoor amenity space, any biodiversity net gain or landscaping.

It ‘therefore fails to demonstrate that the proposal would be of a high-quality design that is practical, attractive, safe, accessible and adaptable,’ officers said.

There is no noise assessment, so officers ‘cannot accurately determine’ whether the plans would have a harmful impact on occupants or neighbours.

Also missing is an Air Quality Assessment to demonstrate there is no adverse impact due to increased vehicle trips and exposure from the A4 Bath Road.

See all plans entering reference P/00676/012 in Slough council’s planning portal.