Planning consultation begins for new secondary school in Houghton Regis
Friday, 25 September 2020
We've just launched a planning consultation for feedback on a new 1,120-place Houghton Regis secondary school.
We've submitted a planning application for the school on the Kingsland Campus, which will be built as a six-form entry secondary school with 900 pupils aged 11 to 16 and 220 sixth-form pupils aged 16 to 18. It'll be ready to open in September 2022. This is to follow the closure of Houghton Regis Academy in the summer of that year, and to accommodate the housing growth in the area.
As new houses are built as part of the Linmere housing development (also known as HRN1), the new school will be expanded to a 10-form entry secondary with 1,500 pupils aged 11 to 16 and 350 sixth-form pupils aged 16 to 18.
The school site itself, located to the south east of the Kingsland Campus, will contain:
- a main teaching block
- separate sports block
- an all-weather pitch
- standard pitches for outdoor sport and a new car park
- vehicle access from Parkside Drive
- additional pedestrian access from the west, through the Kingsland Campus and from the north, connecting to the new houses which are planned as part of the Linmere housing development site
The formal consultation, which lasts for 21 days, allows for feedback on the technical town planning aspects of the new school, such as the physical design, its size, where it is located and aspects such as car parking spaces and sports pitches.
We're also required to secure a new provider for the school, under the free school presumption process. The selected trust selected will be required to consult residents about the school’s governance before it opens in 2022.
Councillor Sue Clark, our Executive Member for Families, Education and Children, said:
The submission of a planning application is a key milestone in the delivery of our school provision across the area and will ensure Houghton Regis has a brand new and exciting purpose-built secondary school that meets the needs of its growing population, so that young people in the area can get the most out of their education.
We recognise how interested and involved local residents are in their community, so we have created dedicated web content to keep residents updated about key stages of the planning process, through to delivery. There they can also sign up for our free email alerts to get updates sent straight to their inbox.