Objections over new portable classroom plans for Little Elms pre-school in Oxton, to be reviewed by Newark and Sherwood District Council

Plans to build a new portable classroom to expand a village pre-school in a Nottinghamshire village will face a final decision this week after some residents objected to the proposal.

Little Elms pre-school has applied to Newark and Sherwood District Council to install the classroom next to the its current building, on Main Street in Oxton.

The extra room would create 17 more places for toddlers aged 15 to 23 months – increasing the school’s capacity from 55 to 72 children.

The plans were submitted on January 29 this year, and will be considered by a council committee on Thursday (June 5).

The classroom will measure 2.8 metres tall, 11 meters in length, 3.8 meters in width located to the north of the school’s existing building.

The external walls will be made out of horizontal timber-cladding with white plastic windows and doors.

Plans will see the school’s existing wooden fence moved to make space for the new classroom.

The school caters to children aged six months to five years, employing 11 full-time staff.

Oxton Parish Council objected to the plans, raising concerns over flooding, loss of privacy for nearby residents, design and the impact on highways.

A total of 22 residents also objected, raising concerns over flooding, impact on the Green belt and parking issues, noise, and overdevelopment of the village.

The school is located on the Green belt and within the Oxton Conservation Area.

Sara Vanner, Owner of Little Elms, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We really hope the council will consider our application.

“We have over 20 children on the waiting list at our school and we’re operating at full capacity.

“We have families waiting for their children to start school as soon as possible.

“We’re trying to make [the facility] look as appealing as possible for residents.

“The classroom will go behind a large fence that’s already up and will not be very visible from the road.

“The room will be designed for children aged 15 to 23 months, and we will be able to cater to have a lot more children in there than what we have at school.

“There will be different learning areas stretched across two rooms.”

The planning application will be discussed at Newark and Sherwood District Council’s Planning Applications Committee on Thursday, June 5.

Planning reports say the new classroom is not considered to be inappropriate development in the Green Belt.

An officer’s assessment reads: “The proposed introduction of a temporary classroom building, together with additional mitigation works, would result in a low level of less than substantial harm to the character and appearance of Oxton Conservation Area.

“However, in accordance with the guidance in the Framework, this identified harm needs to be weighed against the public benefits of the proposal which
would provide for 17 additional pre-school places for families within the local area, as well as providing two new jobs, which are both socio-economic benefits of the proposal which provide moderately positive benefits.

“In this case, the public benefits are considered to outweigh the heritage harm identified.”