ANGRY residents have spoken of their disappointment after a Shepherd's Bush free school was granted permission to expand.
Two coaches transported them to the latest council planning committee last Wednesday (9/11) to see ARK Conway Primary School, in Hemlock Road, receive approval for its controversial new building.
It took over the closed Wormholt Library and opened with 30 pupils in September after a major refurbishment of the historic site.
But it plans to expand to a 210-strong school by 2017, free of council control, after it was given the thumbs-up to build a new building in front of the adjacent A40 Westway.
Neighbours are fuming that the two-storey building will see The Curve and Hemlock Road be cut off and turned into dead-ends and 75 from both roads and nearby Sundew Avenue, Erica Street and Clematis Street sent in letters of objection.
And they have rubbished claims by council planning officers that, when at full capacity, 65 per cent of pupils will be walked to school with only 15 per cent taking the car.
Rene Taylor, of Wormholt Tenants' and Resident's Association, said: “I don't know where they get these figures from. We all went to the meeting hoping to get a better result and we are devastated with the outcome.
“To be honest, we probably stood no chance really because it seems the council is keen to push this thing through. They are cutting off the road and we will be inundated with cars and traffic. It is inevitable.
“This is a Conservation Area and it is being treated with a lack of respect. We are already saturated with schools in this area and, as a result, people will come from afar to go here.
“It is a sad day for this area and everyone in this estate is deeply upset.”
A raft of planning conditions have been laid out for the school which include the installation of CCTV covering new pedestrian walkways and ensuring no music should be heard by neighbouring properties.
A council planning report said: “[The school] would provide a new educational facility to meet a proven need in this part of the borough.
“There is sufficient existing capacity on the surrounding roads to accommodate the level of traffic that would be associated with a primary school of this size without causing congestion to the road network or unsatisfactory levels on street-parking stress.
“The proposed closure of part of the highway would not result in high levels of reassigned traffic to seriously impact on road congestion or cause significant inconvenience to vehicle drivers.
“Officers consider that the proposed new building would provide an educational facility of substantial public benefit which decisively outweighs any potential harm to the character of the conservation area resulting from the loss of open space and trees.”
