Work could soon start on new primary school in Rugby

Griffin School, in Lower Lodge Avenue, will form part of the Rugby Gateway development and will consist of seven classrooms, a hall and offices and there will also be a standalone nursery on the same site. Outside there will be a playing field and habitat areas for wildlife.

Approval was given in August 2013 for the building of homes, businesses, food and drinks outlets and community facilities including the new school. This latest application before Rugby Borough Council was to consider reserved matters - the access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale of the school.

In a report on the application, planning officer Karen McCulloch explained: “The proposed school is to be a single form entry school to serve the occupiers of the overall Gateway development and is of a size that the education authority, Warwickshire County Council, advised was required at the outline stage.

“It will be centrally located within the overall development to allow access from the residential phases.

"The site can be accessed by foot or cycle along the main spine road which is also connected to routes within the residential phases.

"In addition children from outside the Gateway site could access the school using crossing facilities on Leicester Road. A bus service will also run along the spine road once completed allowing access to the school.”

There will be 21 parking spaces for the school and 11 for the nursery - more than laid out in the council’s parking policies - but there is no provision within the site for vehicles dropping off or collecting children from the school.

As part of an ecology maintenance plan, the landscaping around the site will include measures such as bird and bat boxes, bug hotels, hedgehog habitats and gaps within fencing and native planting. There will also be a wildflower meadow.