HADLEIGH is set to get a third primary school - despite residents objecting to the new build.

By Tracey Sparling

By Tracey Sparling

Health and Education Editor

tracey.sparling@eveningstar.co.uk>

HADLEIGH is set to get a third primary school - despite residents objecting to the new build.

Suffolk county councillors meet next Tuesday to consider the plan, which has been recommended planning permission, subject to conditions.

The first phase of the new school - to be built on 1.2 hectares of land off Boswell Lane and Red Hill Road - would provide places for 140 pupils aged five to 11, with an integral nursery unit for 25 children.

The school is to be designed so it can be extended in future to offer 210 school places, most of which would be taken by children of RAF families who move from Woodbridge to new housing at Hadleigh. It had been calculated 85 extra school places would be needed as the town expanded, but it is now estimated there will be 100 children of primary school age for the families of servicemen alone.

If there is enough cash, energy could be provided by a wind turbine set on a nine-metre high column, solar panels, and roof water could supply the toilets for flushing.

But the idea has prompted three letters of objection from residents of Boswell Lane who listed 16 concerns.

They say their houses are very close to the school boundary, and the development would mean a lack of privacy and noise.

Director of Environment and Transport Peter Thompson said some residents' requests for privacy to be maintained in their back gardens had led to the applicant revising the plans to include a three-metre strip between gardens and the playground, which could be planted with trees.

He added: "The provision of a new primary school is to be welcomed."

May 2001:

Parents were warned that primary schools in Hadleigh would not be able to cope with an expected massive influx of youngsters.

Families were told their children should be registered as soon as possible to avoid being squeezed out by families moving into the area.

Two new housing developments earmarked for Army personnel based at Wattisham and their families were estimated to bring an estimated 1,000 more people.

Extra classrooms at Hadleigh Primary on Station Road had already been built.

St Mary's in Stonehouse Road had room for only about five more pupils.

July 2001:

It was announced that more than 100 new places would have to be found for schoolchildren in Hadleigh within the next 18 months.

204 new homes were expected to be completed and occupied by service families from Wattisham Airfield by the end of 2002.

Suffolk County Council asked residents which of three possible solutions they would like to see: extending St Mary's Primary School, extending Hadleigh Primary School, or building a new school.

September 2001:

The Evening Star revealed how the council could be forced to build a new school in Hadleigh after governors at one of the town's two existing primary schools pulled out of expansion plans.

The governors of St Mary's Primary School withdrew their support for a scheme that would have seen four new classrooms a nursery unit an enlarged school hall and a music room in exchange for agreeing to take extra pupils.

September 2002:

The first plan for a new school is considered by Suffolk County Council.