Oxfordshire School Plans to Sell School Field to Build Houses On

They hope by sacrificing the playing ground they can improve the rest of their facilities

Chiltern edge secondary school, in South Oxfordshire, has applied to turn school field into housing area. They wish to do this as the money they will earn from selling the land will allow them to improve the school and its facilities.

There does not seem to be a proposed end date to these provisions, the Sonning Common Neighbourhood Development Plan (SCNDP) claims they will ‘run concurrently with the current South Oxfordshire Local Plan and apply until March 2035.’

The company running the housing project, Deanfields, say they wish to support schools and enhance local employment.

Their aims and development strategy have been laid out in the SCNDP, showing how ‘One of the important aims of the original NDP allocation was to enable the sale of the land to release funds for the refurbishment of the school and to improve facilities. Approval for the sale had been given by the Department of Education’.

The school has applied for this action once and been denied due to loss of a playing field. The school reported that the land was not used formally for the curriculum and has poor lighting, meaning it is rarely used.

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