School given permission to expand by 200 pupils

Littleport Community Primary will be able to take more than 200 extra pupils

Plans to expand a Cambridgeshire primary school so it can accept more than 200 new pupils have been agreed.

The proposals to build more classrooms at Littleport Community Primary School were put forward as there was significant house-building in the area.

Cambridgeshire County Council set out plans to extend the existing school building to add seven new classrooms and permission for the scheme was granted by the council's own planning department.

The school will now be able to take an additional 210 pupils, increasing from 420 children to 630.

Additional teachers and teaching assistants were also due to be employed.

The new classrooms created in the single-storey extension are proposed to be used by Key Stage 2 pupils.

In the planning application, the council highlighted some of the housing developments that have been approved in the area in recent years and the impact this was having on the number of children needing school places.

These included the 397 homes approved for land off Woodfen Road, which the council said were expected to add 119 to 140 new primary school pupils to the area.

The authority also highlighted the plans to build 680 homes on land north of Grange Lane, which was expected to add 200 to 270 new primary school pupils to the area.

The planning document said: “The need for the extension is a result of local need that will arise from the new housing that has been granted planning permission and will be constructed in the near future. The new facilities are planned to open early 2025 to accommodate this need.”

In a report planning officers said: “The proposed extension to the school would be sited within the school grounds and would be approximately 60 metres away from the residential properties to the east and would be predominantly screened by the existing school building."