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Planning Application Withdrawn

The planning application has been withdrawn by Braywick Court School/BPET.

Hopefully the School & Bellevue Place Education Trust, their backers have found an alternative site, or a 'split site' solution that won't involve building on the formal Gardens at Braywick Park, taking over the Nature Centre, the Green Belt issues, the overdevelopment on the existing site, the highways, traffic & parking problems & doesn't have such a big, negative impact on Braywick Park & the surrounding area. 

We're not against a smaller school, or part of a split site school on the Winbury site so will be interested to see what comes next.

More news when we have it.

Bray Parish Planning Meeting - Monday 1st June 7:30pm at Braywood Memorial Hall, Fifield

Please come and attend the Bray Parish Planning Meeting on Monday 1st June at 7:30pm at the Braywood Memorial Hall, Fifield.

We need as many people as possible to attend if we want our voice to be heard.

We have written a letter to Bray Parish Council councillors asking them to recommend to the District Council that the planning application for the school to be refused for all the planning reasons that we have raised so far, and also to request the District Council to look again at alternatives.

We have also stated that residents are unhappy about the manner in which the Council has promoted the scheme since the cabinet report in March 2014.

CLICK HERE to read our letter to the Parish Council Councillors

What Happened to the 'Travel Plan'?

The elaborate 'Travel Plan' for Braywick Court School from Bellevue Place Education Trust seems to have been conveniently forgotten, as we predicted...

Remember this? (From the Braywick Court School Travel Plan - 2014/2015 Published in October 2014)

3 months later and this is ignored & parents are now instructed to use the Braywick Nature Centre Car Park...

The headteacher made public assurances that it would be a condition of entry for pupils that parents would agree to use the 'park & stride' system and NOT use the Braywick Nature Centre Car park. She & Braywick Court School have already broken this promise, just months into their first year.

The School's 'Travel Plan' was proposed to answer concerns over parking and traffic which it is obvious the school will create if allowed to expand to accommodate over 2.5x the number of children that ever attended Winbury School previously.

The travel plan and especially the concept of the 'park & stride' system was used as a means to answer some of the main objections to problems that will be caused by the school's proposed overdevelopment and expansion. And now, already it has been disregarded & is being ignored.

The path that was built for this park & stride system, without consultation, environmental impact research, looks terrible & gets waterlogged (still) - but Councillor Geoff Hill is incredibly proud of & takes sideways photographs of.

Oh, and they still haven't put in a planning application for the planned expansions - despite the school saying they would be submitted LAST AUTUMN...

Do you care about this? Want to help? Please sign our petition to ask RWBM to consider our idea of a 'split site' for Braywick Court School - which would avoid overdeveloping the Winbury School site and avoid building any new buildings on Braywick Park....

Is this the Braywick Court School 'Travel Plan'?

Here's a video showing the 'walking bus' route Braywick Court School are proposing. 

And the inadequate single-track road all the cars will have to use. The road where cars can't pass in both directions. The one they will then have to widen, taking up more greenbelt land on Braywick Sports Ground. Will a normal road even fit past those 5-a-side football pitches? 

The School has already thought this through though right? RBWM? Put in a planning application yet? Mentioned that this is going to be necessary to anyone yet? The School opens in 2 weeks...

The video also shows the horrible path that RBWM have dug up through the lovely grassland area at the back of Braywick Park already, seems like it was rushed through without any environmental studies. Strange when the nearby site where they're building the new Oldfield School had to put building work on hold so ecologists could capture and re-home a large colony of rare, and protected species of slow-worms. Let's hope they didn't re-home them over here - then bulldoze them up... Did anyone check on that before they did this? It's an offence to kill or injure slow worms in the UK.

Why are we so desperate for these extra school places anyway when a new double-sized Oldfield School opens next year, and the old site will also then be used for education?

Do Bellevue Education Trust have their eyes on the old Oldfield School site as part of the long-game? 

What about the need for 'special educational needs' places locally as noted in this report here:http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/web/news_18913_chiltern_road_site_options.htm

What if Bellevue Place Education Trust's 'plan B' is to create a situation where Braywick Court already has several classes of children, but can't get planning permission to expand (we certainly hope they won't get it if it involves building on the park, and building the big 2 storey development they have shown they want to) - which then puts pressure on RBWM to re-home the school on the old Oldfield School site - instead of the other options which would provide 'special educational needs' places.

'Special Educational Needs places' ARE needed in the area (See this RBWM Report). Especially since Holyport Manor School closed (and the site is now opening as a... $15m FREE SCHOOL... Founded by... COUNCILLOR DUDLEY, and who's head of Sport is... Councillor Bicknell's Son.). One of the sponsor groups for Braywick Court School (Place Group) were project management advisors to Holyport College too. All very friendly... 

Just a bit worrying that the very people who will eventually be looking over the planning application may be under political pressure from others on the council to support it (presumably those directly involved/linked to the School will rightly step down from the development panel - but that does't mean there won't be pressure on those in the council that ARE on it). If they upset those higher up will they have to step down from their cabinet roles in planning? 

Anyway... what do you think about this walking bus? Would you happily let your 5yr old kid walk this route every day? In winter? When its raining? What then? Ah yes, use the car park at Braywick Park, which barely coped when Winbury was open with 90 kids - let alone 210.

There won't be traffic chaos on Hibbert Road and in the car park when Braywick Court School is up to 210 will there?

Especially not now that there are 8 less spaces available there because RBWM have made them 'permit holder only' for School Staff.

Because the area where teachers used to park when it was Winbury School, now can't be used as they want to build a big new 2 storey development on it. To accommodate the extra 120 kids this school wants to eventually have - over the 90 when it worked perfectly well as Winbury School.

Councillors & RBWM have been promoting the School, taking over the existing Nature Centre Building so the School can use it - and then building a new Nature Centre Building in the middle of Braywick Park as a good thing in the Maidenhead Advertiser.

And who will the planning application eventually be made to? RBWM...

Nice.

Original planned site for the new Nature Centre was smaller & in different position. Negotiation trick?

In the original rough plans for the proposed new Nature Centre it was to the left of the car park, and smaller - not right in the middle of the park as now proposed.

Is this what they are actually aiming for but are asking for something more outrageous as a negotiating technique to get the original plan accepted as a 'concession'?

Building out on this beautiful park to allow the free school to operate at twice the former school's numbers just isn't cool - wherever they decide to TRY TO put the new building.

Is this because the council is desperate for school places because of their own previous planning decisions and allowing overdevelopment in the area?

First rough plans showing area 'H' as location of proposed new building (click to enlarge):

'Expert' photoshop annotation of latest plans for new building, area to left in yellow was original proposed position (click to enlarge):

RBWM promoting the School & Nature Centre in the Press, but not mentioning putting a big new building in the middle of Braywick Park.

http://www.windsorobserver.co.uk/news/maidenhead/articles/2014/04/04/99137-nature-centre-to-move-as-part-of-package-to-bring-free-school-to-a-town/

Spinning the proposed development based on the financial side - but at what environmental cost?

No mention of:

-The fact that the Nature Centre is being kicked out of its existing location into what is a smaller building

-It will involve a large development & building right in the middle of a beautiful park

-This building on the park is only necessary because they decided the new School should accept 2.5 times the number of pupils (210 over original 86) the previous one (Winbury) had - and they want to take over the existing Nature Centre building - which is very successful and a wonderful local resource as is.

-Completely inadequate parking arrangements & traffic problems created by this doubling of the number of pupils.

"A NATURE centre will be moved to a new home to make way for a free school. The Royal Borough cabinet has approved proposals to lease the former Winbury School site, in HIbbert Road, Maidenhead, the Braywick Nature Centre and adjoining pieces of land to the Bellevue Education Trust to set up a new free school – the Braywick Court School. The Royal Borough has spent £716,939 on buying, maintaining and providing security for the old school since they purchased it in October 2012 with the intention of the school being retained for educational use, but the funding for the new school will come entirely from the Education Funding Agency (EFA). Speaking at the meeting on Thursday last week (27/3), cllr Simon Dudley, cabinet member for finance, said: “From a local taxpayer’s perspective, RBWM has put £700,000 into this, but I think the EFA will put £1.1m into it. “We are getting a new, one-form entry primary school for £700,000 when we are building another, two-form primary school [Oldfield Primary’s relocation to Bray Road] nearby for £8.4m. That is tremendous value for money for our residents.” The Royal Borough has also secured a grant of up to £400,000 from the EFA to build a replacement nature centre elsewhere in Braywick Park. The trust will need to increase the number and size of classrooms, have access to a hall, staff parking and pupil drop off areas and it has been deemed easier to make this happen by building a smaller extension incorporating the nature centre rather than a larger extension to the former Winbury site. The school will expand into the nature centre once a replacement centre has been constructed. Cllr Michael John Saunders, cabinet member for property and planning, said: “The nature centre is a bit tired, but still perfectly workable, but with this plan, we get a brand new, shiny centre paid for by the EFA. This is an extraordinarily good piece of news for local residents.” The Trust hopes to open the Braywick Court School in September. The site will be leased for 125-years at a peppercorn rate."