Planners Approve Changes At Southfields Community College

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one of two schools spearheading BSF (Building Schools For  The Future) project

Council planners have approved ambitious building plans for Southfields Community College (and Burntwood School in Tooting)  are the two ‘sample’ schools that will be the first to be rebuilt as part of BSF. The meeting on 11th February of the planning applications committee granted outline planning permission for the changes.

 

The £300m scheme is the largest single investment in the borough’s secondary schools for a generation. All Wandsworth secondary schools will be remodelled and refurbished, with new buildings on many school sites. The aim is to improve facilities and put schools at the heart of their community. 

 

Southfields will be extensively remodelled and the old Victorian block will be replaced with new classrooms, a larger sixth form, a resource base for 25 pupils with speech, language and social communications needs, and a new skills centre to support the study of business and finance, IT and sports and leisure.

 

Planners said they regretted the demolition of the Victorian building, but were told it would have been too difficult to adapt and modernise.  Some playing fields will be lost, but a new landscaped area will be created at the middle of the school site. 

Both schools will have to draw up new travel plans and think of ways to encourage staff to use other forms of transport.

Planning applications chairman Leslie McDonnell said:

“These are major changes, but every effort has been made to minimise the impact on local people. When the work is finished, we will have two schools able to provide a 21st century education to our children, and play a much more active role in the local community”

You can view the planning application at www.wandsworth.gov.uk/planning, paper number 09-194.

Find out more about the BSF scheme at www.wandsworth.gov.uk/bsf.