Wilmslow High School have succeeded in obtaining planning permission for an additional sports hall building with associated facilities. The plans were approved at a meeting of the Northern Planning Committee last week.
The school, which achieved Specialist Sports College Status in 2003, places physical education and sport at the centre of its activity. With nearly 2000 pupils, the school is involved with a number of Sports Partnerships and also has additional demand for wider community use so the existing sports facilities are falling short of the school’s requirements.
The construction of the new sports hall will improve the provision of sports facilities on site to cater for the increased number of pupils in attendance and to fulfil the sports specialism. The additional facility will also benefit the local community by providing a wider range of indoor sports facilities.
The new hall will accommodate four courts for multi-use games, additional
teaching space for physical education, equipment storage and staff accommodation. The development is to be sited adjacent to the existing sports hall and other outdoor sports facilities and will occupy an area currently used as a car park and yard.
The provision of the sports hall in this area will entail the loss of 29 car parking spaces from the existing car park, reducing the total amount of car parking provision across the site from 263 to 234, but outside normal school hours a large proportion of parking spaces will be freed up by school staff, thereby being made available for use in connection with the sports facilities.
The application was approved subject to the condition that all construction traffic uses the A34 entrance for access, with the hours of use by contractors restricted during term time to outside the school drop off and collection hours of 08.15 – 09.15 and 15.00 – 16.30.
