Introduction
Bowmer & Kirkland and the Department for Education are proposing to replace the existing teaching facilities at Ringway Primary School with modern facilities in the form of a new two storey school building with assocated hard and soft landscaping, outdoor play facilities and new pedestrian access arrangements.
Ringway Primary School currently contains capacity for 251 pupils aged 4-11 years, and no change to this capacity is proposed as part of the proposed development.
Members of the local community, school staff, parents and carers are invited to view the design proposals and provide feedback prior to submission of the planning application.
The Site
The site lies within Choppington, a large village and civil parish in Northumberland, and extends to approximately 1.24 hectares. It comprises a large main school block, caretakers residential property at the northern point of the site, amenity grassland, hardstanding areas of car parking and playground areas.
The Site is bound by existing residential properties to the south, east and west, and open fields bound the site to the north beyond Ringway road.
With regards to public transport, the closest bus stops to the school are located on Ashington Drive, in the vicinity of the junction with Milford Gardens, less than a five-minute walk away. These stops are served by the X22 Sapphire service, between Ashington and Newcastle. The closest railway station is Morpeth, approximately 6.7 kilometres away.
There are no listed buildings on the site or nearby and the site does not lie within a Conservation Area.
The Environment Agency’s flood map for planning indicates that the site is entirely located in Flood Zone 1 and therefore, is at very low risk of flooding. The entirety of the site is also at ‘very low risk ‘ from surface water flooding, meaning there is less than 0.1% chance of flooding from surface water each year.
The Proposal
The Proposed Development seeks to:
– Provide a new modern two-storey school building for Ringway Primary School, providing a capacity for 251 pupils
– Re-configure the existing site, including positioning of the new school block and arrangement of external areas
– Provide new and improved soft and hard outdoor PE areas, soft and hard informal social areas and a landscaping scheme
-Demolish the existing facilities
The new school building will be positioned adjacent to the western boundary of the site, and will therefore be roughly located in the centre of the site. A new soft outdoor PE pitch and soft informal area are proposed, with associated landscaping also to the south of the site.
The northern part of the site will be characterised by primary access points to the site and a hard surface car parking area, alongside a nursery reception area and a hard outdoor PE area located immediately north of the building. A forest school/habitat area will also be located to the north-east of the car park.
More information can be found here https://dppukltd.com/ringway/