Arden School 'broke planning rules'

ARDEN School in Knowle broke most planning conditions imposed on it by council chiefs when it built a sixth form, a probe has found.

The school also failed to put trees around temporary classrooms as agreed to screen it from neighbours in Station Road, a Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council report says.

Yet it says the breaches for the sixth form – approved in July 2008 and completed last October – have had ‘little material harm’ and recommended no action.

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The report was ordered after the council refused to let the school keep the three temporary classrooms – which date back to the 1990s – for another two years.

Most of the 26 sixth form conditions were broken including failure to supply a noise and travel plan before the building started.

There also appeared to be failure to protect trees during construction, it said.

The report said: “It is disappointing that the development commenced and construction continued in breach of a number of conditions.

“However these can mostly be considered as technical breaches which have, when taking a proportional view, had little material harm on any interests of acknowledged importance.

“What is of more concern has been the lack of landscaping around the mobile classrooms (although some hedge planting took place) which could have helped to soften and screen the buildings from nearby properties and the highway.”

It says the sixth form breaches were only discovered after complaints from the public in August and September 2009.

The report says: “Subsequent investigations revealed that the development had indeed commenced in breach of a number of pre-commencement conditions, and other pre-occupation conditions also remained outstanding.”

It said while this ‘could result in the entire development being considered as unlawful’ but this was not borne out by case law.

Allegations of planning breaches have been made to the authority during the last decade, the report notes.

One of the temporary classrooms should have been removed in 2004 – but went in 2008.

Another, by the music block, should have gone by 2005 but is still there, though the report says it is not regularly used. It was damaged by fire in January.

Yet the report says criticisms of a ‘perceived failure to take enforcement action’ by SMBC must bear in mind that such action is to stop development and not ‘punish’.

And it says enforcement action is a ‘last resort only to be used where a breach is active, materially harmful, and cannot be remedied in any other way’.

The school is in breach other another condition, to relocate tennis courts by 2009, the report adds.

Yet it said this would be addressed in the ‘very near future’ with a planning application for a new multi-use games area to go next to the existing all weather pitch.

It urges a 'reasonable timetable' to remove the classrooms.

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