PLANS have been submitted for a new 420-place primary school in Basingstoke which will serve more than 1,700 new homes.

Hampshire County Council has lodged the plans with its own planning department to build the new two-form entry primary school on land at the new Hounsome Fields housing development.

The authority plans to open the new primary school in September 2025, admitting up to 30 children in Year R, and will provide for eight pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The primary school would grow over time to 60 pupils per year group, to a total of 420 pupils across the whole school once full.

The proposed site layout has been configured to allow for potential future expansion which could see the school have 630 places but “this will be subject to future demand and capital funding”, the council says. 

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The application states that the proposed building includes 14 classrooms, a music and drama studio, and three group rooms, amongst other facilities.

An academy trust has not yet been appointed to manage the school once completed, but the council anticipates that 47 staff members will be employed, including 19 teachers.

The school be located on land within the 750-home Hounsome Fields development on the A30 Winchester Road, opposite the golf course development where 1,000 homes are being built.

During a public consultation in October last year, the county council referred to the impact on traffic caused by a new school, saying: “The county council appreciates that local residents will be concerned about potential traffic implications due to the new school at Hounsome Fields.

“By planning to create school places on an accessible site, as close as possible to where children live, we create the best chance for those children to travel to school in an active, sustainable way, using means of travel other than the car.”

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The new school site will be served by a new spine road to the west that links to the A30 Winchester Road via the new roundabout to the south-west.

In a planning statement, the council says: “There are shared surface pedestrian and cyclist links through the development connecting the housing to the school site.

“Four pedestrian access points are proposed serving the western, northern and southern parts of the site. This allows the school to manage the various requirements for public access throughout the school day.”

A raised crossed crossing and signage are proposed on the highway immediately outside the school’s main entrance to "improve pedestrian safety when crossing the road from the housing development”.