A LANGLEY school wanting to raise extra funds by building new flats on nearby land had its plans unanimously refused by councillors.

Planners took concern over an application to demolish a former caretaker’s home and garage on land nearby the Langley Grammar School House in Reddington Drive in order to build a three-storey building containing 13 apartments.

Slough Observer: Indicative drawing of the apartment blockIndicative drawing of the apartment block

Slough planning officers were concerned over the no provision of family housing, its dominance in the street scene, loss of natural sunlight, no appropriate level of balcony space, lack of parking, congestion concerns, and insufficient information on drainage and its impact on biodiversity.

Planning officers recommended to councillors sitting on the planning committee to refuse the scheme.

The school was granted permission by the Secretary of State to dispose of the unused land in order to gain an additional source of funding to improve its facilities and provide a dance studio.

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But the school needed planning permission for the completion of the sale of the land, which the caretaker’s home has not been occupied since 2017.

The mix of apartments would have been two one-beds and 11 two-beds. It also proposed 14 car parking spaces and new landscaping and tree planting.

Since the application was lodged, three letters of objection were submitted against developer Excellare's scheme and urged Slough Borough Council to reject it.

They believed the flats would case a wind tunnel along Reddington Drive, it’s an “imposing” building and will impact the area’s character and appearance, loss of privacy to neighbouring properties, out of keeping with the school, and would worsen traffic and parking.

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“The lack of thought for the current community is shocking,” one resident wrote.

Speaking at the meeting on Wednesday, May 25, Langley Kedermister councillor Chandra Muvvala (Con) believed there would have been more objections if residents were notified better.

The chairman of the committee, Cllr Martin Carter (Lab: Britwell & Northborough), said: “It seems to me quite clearly the seven items for refusal stack up and make perfect sense to me.”