A resident writes22 January 2010
A planning application that has just gone in to Elmbridge doesn’t immediately concern the majority of Thames Ditton residents but could do so in the very near future (ref 2010/0063 on Elmbridge's online planning portal). It concerns the ability of parents in Thames Ditton to get places for their children at Hinchley Wood Secondary School. The school is very oversubscribed and as more houses are built in the immediate vicinity of the school (such as the large Taylor Wimpey development on the Esher Bypass in Hinchley Wood) the catchment area is shrinking year on year. It seems likely that as places are taken up by children from the new housing developments, there may well be parts of Thames Ditton that lose out.
The school have done a deal with Advantage Nurseries, a private all day pre-school nursery provider, to build a huge building within the school site. The ground floor will accommodate the new nursery business, with approx 150 pre-school children and 70 odd staff. The first floor will be specialist teaching facilities, such as IT etc and will be used by the school. The top floor will be residential. However, not a single additional school place will be created by this development. The size and scale of it are huge and bearing in mind that the school site is already under pressure space wise, it surely makes it less likely that it will be able to expand to accommodate additional children in the future. Also, do we need more pre-school nursery schools places in the local area? Another new one is being built on the Taylor Wimpey site, there is one on the Lynwood site, one at the library and several other pre-school facilities attached to the local infant schools and churches. In fact, within a 2 mile radius of HW school I counted 21 pre-school facilities already in existence. I have not heard of anyone in the local area not being able to find a place for a pre-school child but know of several that haven’t been able to get into the secondary school of their choice.
We in the part of Thames Ditton close to Hinchley Wood are opposed to the scheme for all sorts of reasons: loss of open space within the school, additional traffic and parking problems (Claygate Lane is already congested), additional noise nuisance, loss of light to the gardens that will be overshadowed by the large building and loss of privacy to same as the new building has windows all round.
As is the norm, the planning department have only written to the immediate neighbours of the school that will be affected by the development, even though it affects the wider community. The deadline for letters of objection is 1st February. We want people in the wider community to think about the issues raised here and hopefully write to Elmbridge to object to the plans. One has to ask: is this a good use of already pressured space within the school, and is another fee paying pre-school nursery really required at the expense of future secondary school places?
(Name and address supplied)
Comment: see also the thread in our forum. If you have concerns about planning for school places please make them known to our Surrey County Councillor as well as necessarily responding to the formal consultations and contacting Council officials. If you have concerns about the proposed development, please contact EBC's planning office - you can lodge comments via the above portal, or write by post. It is also worth contacting Hinchley Wood Residents' Association who will be leading for nearby residents on the development proposal. Note also that there is a new plan for the catchment area of Hinchley Wood School that is the subject of a formal consulation. In essence, Weston Green residents to the west of Hampton Court Way would be excluded. See the school website link - Ed.