An independent school’s plans to construct a three-storey maths block on Green Belt land have been described as a “vanity project”.

Proposals to develop the teaching department at St Albans School, in Abbey Mill Lane, St Albans, were given conditional planning permission and referred to the Secretary of State at a St Albans District Council planning committee meeting on August 7.

The current wooden structure will be replaced with new classrooms – despite a similar application being rejected last August as the site is in Green Belt land and would have resulted in several mature trees being cut down.

The new application is 1m shorter and the trees will be retained.

However, Rich Wilson, who has lived nearby in Fishpool Street for five years, called the development “a major disruption”.

He said: “It would be a major disruption to me as a resident in terms of the noise, pollution, views, and increased traffic.

“More importantly, nothing of substance has changed from their original application, which was rejected because the school would be building on Green Belt land and had failed to demonstrate a genuine need. It is simply a vanity project.”

Neighbour Diane Todd, who also lives in Fishpool Street, said the design did not fit in with the Fishpool Street conservation area.

She said: “There are no material changes from the previous application which was rejected for similar reasons.

“The proposed design is incongruous in height, scale, scope, and aesthetics with regard to the surrounding Fishpool Street conservation area neighbourhood.”

Head teacher Jonathan Gillespie said “significant changes” were made for the plans for the new building and also that the site for the development will be 55m away from the centre of Fishpool Street.

He said: “I am delighted that the council strongly supported our application for a new maths building. The new facility will address two fundamental requirements: the consistently increasing take-up of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related subjects by pupils; and the lack of existing, fit-for-purpose space needed to house and support the growth and teaching of these subjects at the school.

“The proposed new building would provide a fit-for-purpose facility for mathematics and in turn would release classrooms for additional science laboratory space.

“The site for the new facility is set 55m back from the centre of Fishpool Street and residents within the school grounds and we made significant changes to the revised plans for the new building, following concerns relating to the previous application.”

Planning committee chairman Cllr Lyn Bolton said: “It is an extension as schools do need to expand. As a result, taking down the current shed-like building and putting something taller there instead is perfectly acceptable.

“I do not see it as a massive intrusion on the green belt."