School block gets green belt go-ahead
Special permission was given for a multi-million pound school block to be built on Green Belt land.
A new maths, art and technology (MATS) block is to be constructed at Dame Alice Owen's School in Potters Bar.
Planning officer Chris Lewcock told councillors that the site, in Dugdale Hill Lane, was in the Green Belt - and should therefore be regarded as inappropriate development.
However, permission could be given if "very special circumstances" were demonstrated.
Headteacher Dr Alan Davison told last Wednesday's Potters Bar and Shenley planning committee that the new two-storey building would be replacing one which demonstrated a health and safety risk.
The old building would be demolished and replaced with a 37-space car park, which would help alleviate parking problems in surrounding roads.
Talking about the current MATS building, councillor Shirley Legate said: "My girls attended this school many moons ago and it needed updated then.
"I wouldn't want my children taught in there now. It's not fit for purpose for any child."
Work on the new block should start in the summer and be ready for use in September 2007.
As reported in the Potters Bar Edition last December, the school was awarded a £4m Government grant for the new building.
A further £1.2m has been donated by the Dame Alice Owen Foundation so it can be kitted out with state-of-the-art equipment for the school's 1,420 pupils.
The plans were voted through, with conditions, by five councillors. Two abstained.
Date: Wednesday 7th June, 2006
