WINDSOR Girls’ School has its plans to build a new sixth form building, and sporting facilities approved by councillors last week.
A grassed area adjacent to the school, which is an upper school for girls aged 13 to 18, between Imperial Road and Longbourn will see a new two-storey building as the school has outgrown its current sixth form space.
This is because the girls’ school has extended its post-16 curriculum, according to the design and access statement. It will also help deal with the demand for Year 9 places that can be catered for in the main building.
The sixth form building will come with six classrooms, two offices, a meeting room, a breakout space, and toilet facilities.
Alongside this, a new all-weather pitch will be marked out for mini hockey and three five-a-side football areas, while the new multi-games area will have markings for two netball courts and two tennis courts. This will also be open to the public.
While councillors sitting on the Windsor and Ascot development management panel unanimously approved the plans, the scheme is under conditions to implement a controlled parking zone via single or double yellow lines on Longbourn Road to ease overspilling parking, and a financial contribution to reducing carbon emissions.
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Cllr Amy Tisi (Lib Dem: Clewer East) said she was “pleased” to see the school expanding, some of the scheme’s sustainability elements like air source heat pumps, and the liked the hockey pitches. However, she remained concerned over the parking and traffic.
She said: “Residents in that area [Longbourn] say it’s already jam-packed with cars and this could make it worse.
“I was a bit frustrated that the solution to some parking issues is overspilling to surround roads because there’s already overspill into surrounding roads and residents are already complaining and that just seems like it’s a bit of a cop-out.”
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Meanwhile, Cllr Wisdom Da Costa (WWRA: Clewer & Dedworth West) said it was a “missed opportunity” for the school to add extra biodiversity elements within its scheme.
The meeting took place on Wednesday, September 7.
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