STEINER ECO-ACADEMY PLANNING APPEALS DISMISSED!
A Government Planning Inspector has this week dismissed two appeals by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to build the first Steiner Academy in the village of Much Dewchurch in South Herefordshire. The Academy for 330 pupils and staff, specialising in ecology and land studies, was to have been built on 8 acres of green-field, open countryside, outside the
development envelope of the tiny, medieval village of Much Dewchurch with only 250 residents. Chairman of the Much Dewchurch Society Bella Brown said of the result "We have given Whitehall a blooded nose and won, this is a massive victory for common sense!"
Described during the five day public inquiry by Rev. Mark Evans, Project Lead for the DCSF, as a "world" centre for Steiner Education, residents of the
village could not think of a more unsuitable location. But the Government Department clearly underestimated the resistance that the small local population could muster. It remains a mystery why Planning Officials of Hereford Council recommended the proposals for approval in the first place. It was thanks to members of the Planning Committee who unanimously rejected the applications that residents had the opportunity to present their many objections to the scheme at the Planning Appeal Public Inquiry. The Inspector clearly concurred with views of residents, expressing the view that the proposed development of the existing Hereford Waldorf School would have the effect of:
"swinging the
balance
from that of a small village with an associated school as an ancillary feature, to that of a large school with a village appearing ancillary to
it"
The Inspector expressed forthright views on the applications, concluding as
follows:
"I
have found harm to the aims of Unitary Development Plan policies on the
location of services and Central Government advice on sustainability, to the setting of
a listed building, to the character and appearance of tl)5J countryside and the setting of the village, in addition to finding that the development would be out of scale with the size and nature of the village and would not provide real incentive
to reducing dependency on the private car."
Counsel for the Much Dewchurch Society, Sebastian Head, in his closing submission stated:
11. "This is an audacious proposal, representing as it does a major assault on the intrinsic character of the countryside, on the character and setting of the village, on long established principles concerning the need to restrain the use of the private motor car and not least, on the constraints that have been clearly and unequivocally defined
in a recently adopted UDP. "
FURTHER NOTES
Hereford Waldorf school is a member of the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship. It is a privately funded school for 3-16 year olds and follows the Steiner philosophy for educating children. The DCSF agreed to admit a Steiner School to the Academies Programme under the diversity agenda. However, efforts to find a Local Authority in London, Bristol or other parts of the country willing to participate in the experiment ere unsuccessful. Hence the DCSF insisted that Hereford Council withhold any resistance to the conversion of the Hereford Waldorf School from a private fee- paying school to a state maintained Academy "sponsored" by the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship.
There is little support for the Steiner Academy in Herefordshire where 37% of state schools were recently ear-marked for closure due to excess capacity in the state maintained sector. If the Academy were to go ahead it would add an additional 330 places to the state-funded complement, which are currently privately funded by
parents who can afford to pay for their children's education. The new Academy was to have been built at a cost of £16 million at a time when schools of comparable size are threatened with closure because their size makes them uneconomic to run.
The Hereford Waldorf School has been located in the tiny rural of village of Much Dewchurch in South Herefordshire since it bought the old Victorian school house in 1984. Since that time numbers have grown from approximately 60 to 230. The school has a massive catchment area reaching from Cardiff in the West to Malvern in the East. 95% of the children travel to school by private car causing major congestion in the village due to the single lane access for cars arriving and departing, shared with neighbouring residential properties and the church car park.
There is a history of unsuccessful planning appeals on the site stretching back to 1994 and 1996 as the school has attempted repeatedly to expand facilities next to the grade 1 listed church.
The Much Dewchurch Society launched a Campaign Against School Expansion (CASE) in April 2007 in response to a second planning application by the DfES to build the new school, associated facilities and car parking on 8 acres (4.5 hectares) of open countryside. The first application made in October 2006 was unanimously rejected by the Southern Area Planning Sub-Committee of Hereford Council in January 2007. The proposal was to provide accommodation for 330 pupils initially, a 50% increase from the historic numbers of 220-230, with a further expansion to 380 through the addition of a sixth form. Given the Inspectors widespread criticism of proposals the Society has written to Government Ministers and the Secretary of State seeking assurance that the Department will not fund any further development of the site in Much Dewchurch. Leader of Hereford Council Cllr Roger Phillips is to meet with schools Minister Jim Knight next week.
Contact:
Bella Brown
Chairman, Much Dewchurch Society
01981 540779/07789483476
bellabrown33@hotmail.com