Rebuild finally submitted for St Elphin’s Primary

12:00pm Friday 6th April 2007

PLANS for St Elphin's Primary School's new building have been submitted to the borough council, nine years after a move was first mooted.

The school wants to occupy around 40 per cent of St Elphin's Park, in the south east corner, because its current building is too cramped and the children have no access to playing fields.

The new 12-classroom building has a triangular shape and the pupil capacity will go up from 210 to 315.

It will be heated by a Biomass boiler, which burns woodchips.

St Elphin's is a popular school that has been oversubscribed, and the rate of new houses being built nearby means more room is needed for future expansion, the borough council has decided.

Vehicle access will be via Farrell Street, and the borough council is looking into residents-only parking on Selby Street.

The head teacher of nearby Latchford CE Primary School has written to the council to stress that it is a recently refurbished school with places available for pupils. It is not clear if this is a formal objection to the St Elphin's plan.