Plans for high school mobile classroom approved

Queen Elizabeth II High School has a permanent capacity of 898

Plans for a mobile classroom at a secondary school in the west of the Isle of Man to cope with a rise in students have been approved.

The portable cabin housing two classrooms and toilets at Queen Elizabeth II High School will be installed by September, when the school anticipates having 920 students - 22 more than its permanent capacity.

The planning officer who recommended the plans be approved said the rise in pupils was due to residential development in the area over the last 25 years.

Despite the application being approved, planning committee chairman Rob Callister said it was "not acceptable" they had been submitted "so late in the day".

Fellow committee member Matthew Warren said that had meant the committee's "hands were tied" over the issue.

The mobile classrooms are set to be in place for the start of the September term

The committee heard the school's population had increased from 736 in 2019-20 to a current roll of 886.

The planning officer said that while the addition of mobile classrooms did not have a "beneficial impact on the street scene or the provision of school services", it was required to "meet the needs of the next school intake year" and on balance was "acceptable".

The committee vote was split, with Mr Callister casting the deciding vote in favour, stating it would "cause problems" if the plans were rejected.

The approval included a condition that the Department of Education, Sport and Culture should pay the Department of Infrastructure (DOI) up to £2,000 to implement parking restrictions on the A1 Peel Road, near to the entrance of the school due to an anticipated increase in congestion.

Committee members Peter Young and Peter Whiteway, had argued the Department of Infrastructure (DOI) was "using the plans" to get double yellow lines in the area, and called for it to be removed.