Primary school in St Albans will not be relocated

St Albans District Council's full council altered a policy in the city’s Strategic Local Plan which removed the risk that Aboyne Lodge Primary School in Etna Road would be relocated.

Cllr Chris White spoke at the meeting and said although the suggestion to relocate the school had been brought up some years ago, the idea is dead.

He said: “Cllr Chris Whiteside suggested it would be a spiffing idea to move Aboyne Lodge School from its current comfortable location and to plonk it onto the Victoria Playing Fields because they were roughly the same size and who would notice anyway.

“This would allow massive retail development including dozens of department stores and all sorts of other completely out of date things to appear along Drovers Way.

“We have moved on since then – the idea is dead – but it’s understandable that some local residents, they wants to see it buried at a crossroads with a stake through its heart.”

The area is still named as a city centre redevelopment opportunity, but this is subject to any development ‘not having a serious adverse impact on the residential and social cohesion of the rest of the Aboyne Lodge area and school’.

In the development plan for the area, it goes on to say that the opportunity site ‘should include a supermarket, space for larger chain stores, smaller specialist retailers and possibly a department store’.

On Thursday, cllrs voted to proceed to the ‘formal publication’ stage of the draft Strategic Local Plan.

Cll Alun Davies has a daughter currently at Aboyne Lodge Primary School and his other three children will be going through the school during the next 11 years.

He said: “I am extremely pleased with the revised wording of policy 19.

“The reality in central St Albans is that we have a huge demand for primary school places.

“Each school is over subscribed.

“Availability of extra or alternate sites has been explored. None have been found.

“This is a victory for our community.”