New classrooms approved for primary school

Woolacombe School has been renting out the village hall to hold lessons

Pupils who have been having lessons in a village hall after part of their school was condemned will soon be getting new classrooms.

According to North Devon Council planning officers, two temporary buildings at Woolacombe County Primary School have “significant structural concerns” which meant the school had to rent rooms in a village hall.

North Devon Council has granted outline permission for the buildings to be replaced with single-storey classrooms approximately three metres high with solar panels on the roof.

A more detailed planning application with access arrangements, appearance of the buildings, landscaping and scale would be submitted later, they said.

The replacement buildings would face the existing main school building, creating an enclosed area of open space for play, with a covered deck overlooking it, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Bosses said although the loss of green space would be a drawback, the removal of the condemned classrooms would compensate for the loss.

Officers granted permission for the application under "delegated powers".