Austerity shrinks St John’s Sixth Form block – two classrooms and toilets cut

St John’s Academy have had to scale back the plans for their new Sixth Form Study Centre building – and have had to apply to Wiltshire Council for a ‘variation’ of the original plans that were the basis of the planning approval granted for the new block.

Citing “a very tight Education Funding Agency budget” from the Department for Education, the new block loses a classroom on both the lower ground and upper ground levels – reducing the length of elevation by about 6.1 metres.  There will be no toilets on those two floors.  

In addition in the new plans [see below] the external escape stair has been reinstated ‘to comply with building regulations.’  And there will now be no canopy over the access bridge by which students will enter the building.

Karen Davis of the Excalibur Academies Trust told Marlborough News Online:  “It is quite simply that the building works are more expensive than we hoped, and given the current economic climate we have needed to reduce the size of the building.”

The new building is expected to open on time in September.

Marlborough Town Council’s Planning Committee (June 15) was depleted by absences to eight members.  They passed the ‘variation’ to the plans with one vote against and one abstention.

During the discussion councillors had raised anxieties about the slow progress of St John’s in complying with conditions put in place when the original planning permission was granted.  Town councillors had thought there were too few parking spaces for sixth formers and that they would leave their cars in nearby residential streets.

Wiltshire Council has to approve a Green Travel Plan for the new building before it can be opened for use.   This plan has to include ‘details of implementation and monitoring’.

Many residents had raised objections to the plans for the study centre on the grounds that parking would spread well beyond the St John’s grounds.  And a consultation with these residents was to be undertaken.  This has, the committee was told, only been partially carried out.

Councillor Peggy Dow was firmly in favour of supporting the new plans quickly and not waiting for the travel plan – or for more budget cuts: “The longer we take the smaller it’s going to get.”