Planning decision looms on Preston primary school's huge proposed expansion

Lancashire County Council launched a public consultation on plans to add an extra 210 pupils to the roll at Lea Community Primary School back in November 2022 - with the authority’s cabinet members formally giving the go-ahead to the increase the following February.

However, separate planning approval was still required for the five new classrooms that will be needed to accommodate the additional children attending the school. That application continues to wind its way through the system, but a key milestone in the process has now been passed.

Planning rules mean that, as the owner of the Greaves Town Lane site, the county council is both the applicant seeking permission for the new facilities and also the authority whose own independent development control committee will decide whether or not to grant it.

Preston City Council, however, must also be asked for its opinion as a statutory consultee - and the deadline last week passed for it to make its submission.

According to County Hall’s planning portal, it is the second time the city authority has had an opportunity to express its view since it was first sought in September - suggesting that the plans have since been amended in some way. The city council made no objection in its first response in August, but its latest comments have not yet been published.

If they are ultimately approved, the extra classrooms will be contained in a single block on land that currently acts as a trim trail, which will be relocated elsewhere within the school grounds. The new and existing teaching facilities - both single-storey in height - will be connected by a corridor and the extension will also be served by its own toilets.

Education bosses want to add a second form of entry to the school, taking the number of pupils admitted each year from 30 to 60. Over the course of seven years, that will gradually increase the school’s capacity from 210 to 420.

The cabinet decision last year gave the green light to a temporary expansion of the intake for the current academic year, which was possible within the confines of the existing school estate. However, the permanent increase in new admissions that is planned for this September will require additional space.

A date for when the development control committee will determine the application has not yet been revealed. The councillors who sit on the group last month approved the new teaching block proposed for the expansion of Longridge High School - which was set in motion at the same time as that of Lea Community Primary last February.