A PRIMARY school has shelved plans to double the size of its car park by expanding onto green playing fields.
The proposals submitted by Winwick CofE Primary School were met with ‘uproar’ by residents, who slammed the lack of consultation and transparency.
Plans sought to add an additional 20 parking spaces, including two disabled bays, to the Myddleton Lane school’s existing site, which currently has space for 19 cars.
This would have been facilitated by the loss of green playing field space, which would be covered with tarmac, and the car park would have been secured with a 1.2 metre steel fence.
Planning documents stated that the extension would create a fit-for-purpose solution to staff parking problems and would provide safer pedestrian routes within the site.
Gates would have been left open during the evening to allow the neighbouring Winwick Leisure Centre to use the site for additional car parking.
In total, 26 letters of objection were submitted to Warrington Borough Council, with six letters received in support.
Objections ranged from the ‘public uproar’ about a lack of consultation to fears of the site becoming a ‘magnet for anti-social behaviour’.
Concerns were also raised over the loss of green space and how the plans were to the ‘detriment of the character of the village’.
One objector said: “At a time when everyone is supposed to be going green and doing what we can to protect the environment, why on earth would anyone tarmac a well-used area of the playing field.”
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