Plans for new 210-place primary school to support a huge housing in Harborough

A plan to build a 210-place primary school to support a huge housing estate in Market Harborough has been submitted.

If approved, the school will sit within the new Airfield Farm housing development on the outskirts of the market town.

Outline planning permission was given by officials at Harborough District Council to build the Airfield Farm Primary School in 2018, which means the scheme was agreed in principle. This latest application sets out the finer details of the project.

Planning documents state the building has been designed to be ‘extendable’, meaning the school could be expanded and increase its capacity to 420 places. The application has been submitted to Harborough by Leicestershire County Council.

The planned school also features a number of specialist teaching rooms and areas for children who have special educational needs.

The planned school building sits at the north of the wider site. The developer has said it would be accessed primarily on foot from the surrounding houses on the estate. Traffic that enters the site will be slowed down by a ‘raised table’ in the road, which is similar to a large speed bump.

The site of Airfield Farm estate was once home to a number of WWII bomber planes, and in 1943 became home to the Wellington Bombers of an RAF training unit. Flying ceased in August 1945, and it later became a British Army vehicle depot. It was turned over to agriculture when the Army left in the late 1950s.

In 2011, an outline planning application was submitted to build a number of houses, a school and a local centre on the former airfield. Development has begun since, and councillors recently approved the building of a number of shops, a cafe and a yoga studio on the site.

The new school will need to be approved by Harborough’s planning committee before building can go ahead. It is currently unclear when the decision will be made; following the local elections last week, a new planning committee will be formed, which will feature a number of new councillors.

Residents can share their thoughts on the scheme with planning officials via the council’s website. There is currently no deadline for feedback to be submitted.