Disappointment at the lack of support from Marlborough Town Council for the £1.2 million Sixth Form Centre planned for St John’s School has been expressed by the school’s principal Dr Patrick Hazlewood.
He has challenged inaccurate figures about the number of pupils due to use the centre, which formed part of the basis last week for the Town Council’s planning committee to formally object to the major project.
And he has announced that the school would support the provision of a residents’ parking scheme for the neighbouring roads.
The planning committee passed a motion declaring: “While we welcome the development of the school, we strongly oppose the failure to address the issues of traffic flow, overlooking, highway safety and the inadequacy of parking provision.”
It was sparked by the revelation that only four parking spaces were being provided in the development for students and staff.
In a statement today (Wednesday) to Marlborough News Online, Dr Hazlewood declared: “The grant for the new Sixth Form Centre is a wonderful opportunity for the young people in Marlborough and Pewsey. St John’s was incredibly fortunate to have been awarded the funding.
“I am disappointed by the lack of support from the Town Council, particularly given the positive response we received at our meeting in February.”
And he added: “I would like to make it very clear that the new buildings will provide for an additional 110 students, not 200 as was being suggested at the planning meeting.
“I sincerely hope that this inaccurate information does not jeopardise our planning application. All of these students would be able to walk to school, or make use of the existing school transport provided by Wiltshire Council. I wouldn’t expect more than a handful to choose to drive to St John’s.
“It is most disappointing that inaccurate figures are being used, particularly as we had proactively sent detailed information to a number of Marlborough town councillors, including Marian Hannaford-Dobson, Margaret Rose, Guy Loosmore, Nick Fogg, and Stewart Dobson.
We also provided the same information to the Cherry Orchard Residents Association.”
He pointed out that the new centre is vital since all young people are now required to stay in formal education or training until they are 18.
Currently sixth formers can study A Levels and the International Baccalaureate – but not all students wish to study for these qualifications.
“The new classrooms will enable us to provide a wider range of courses to ensure that more students from the Marlborough and Pewsey community areas can study locally, instead of having to travel to Swindon, Salisbury or further afield,” said Dr Hazelewood.
“St John’s is very sensitive to the concerns of our neighbours, particularly regarding parking. We take this issue very seriously and invest time and effort into discouraging students from driving unnecessarily.
“Currently less than seven per cent of our sixth formers drive regularly to school, a further four per cent drive 1-2 days per week. When the new Sixth Form Study centre is operational we will continue to dissuade students from driving.
“It goes without saying that if the Town Council lobbies for a residents parking scheme we would wholeheartedly support it.”
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