‘We knew nothing about this plan’

8:30am Tuesday 2nd December 2008

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PLANS for an extension to the Grange Junior School in Hartford have come as a surprise to residents living nearby.

The Grange Junior School announced last week it was to build a new £2million development at the site on Beechwood Avenue, consisting of an indoor sports hall, changing rooms, science and language laboratories, a music wing and a drama room.

We’ve got nothing against the school, nothing against the expansion but it would have been nice to have notice about it.

A Hartford resident living on Ashley Drive

A Hartford resident living on Ashley Drive, who did not want to be named, said he found out about the extension for the first time on the Guardian website.

“The only documents we have seen was about expanding one of the hockey pitches at the senior school,” he said.

“We’ve complained a number of times about the traffic and also the fact that Hodge Lane, Parker Avenue and Ashley Drive are used as makeshift car parks by the parents.

“We haven’t had any response from the school and we now hear that they are expanding without addressing these issues.

“We’ve got nothing against the school, nothing against the expansion but it would have been nice to have notice about it.

“It was very much a surprise when I saw the article.”

Stephen Bennett, head of the Grange Junior School said: “I can reassure people that the extension is being built to enhance our facilities – not to accommodate more pupils.

“I am sorry if this local resident had not heard of our plans previously, but they have been in the public domain for a considerable time as part of the local authority’s planning approvals’ process.

“In addition, I wrote to residents in the immediate vicinity of the school, held an open evening and had individual meetings with local residents before the project even went for planning consideration.”

He added: “At The Grange Junior School we have done many things to minimise traffic congestion at the peak periods including much improved traffic flow by re-designing our sizeable car park and staggering the end of the school day.”