A £17 million scheme to enable a special school to meet rising demand for places is due to be decided by members of East Sussex County Council next week.
The council’s Planning Committee is expected to decide on Wednesday (30 April) whether Grove Park School can put up a purpose-built secondary school block in Church Road, Crowborough.
The planning application was submitted by the council itself because the school is outgrowing its current premises at the Beacon Academy secondary school site, in Beeches Road.
The scheme is part of wider plans to teach the school’s primary and secondary students at a single location.
Currently, Grove Park School’s sixth form classes are co-located with the nearby Beacon Academy sixth form, in Green Lane, and look likely to remain there for the immediate future.
The new secondary school building is expected to take up to 60 students and would be sited to the north west of the existing main school building.
It would also include a play space and a hard-standing area to enable people to come and go from the existing car park and drop-off point.
The scheme is being recommended for approval by council officers.
Just six people have written to the council about the plans, raising a number of issues. They include concerns around the presence of Japanese knotweed on the site.
But neighbours also had worries about the construction process, extra traffic and the danger that it would pose and the potential for noise disruption from the proposed building’s air source heat pumps.
Wider plans to bring the school’s primary and secondary students together on the same site were approved in principle last month by Conservative councillor Bob Standley, subject to planning permission being granted.
Councillor Standley is the council’s lead member for education and inclusion, special educational needs and disability. He represents Wealden North East.
The council has allocated £17 million to the project and said that the new block would be built to current design standards with the aim of ensuring long-term value for money.
If the scheme is approved, building work is planned to start later this year, with a full opening by September 2027.
The school will continue to provide for learners with complex needs, including those with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD), severe learning difficulties (SLD), autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and sensory needs.
For further information, see application reference WD/3517/CC on the East Sussex County Council planning portal.
