Residents fight plans to develop school site

Developer Persimmon Homes has proposed to build more than 100 homes on the Curzon Street site and in exchange relocate the school to a new, state-of-the art building.

Residents who live in houses backing onto the school site fear loss of privacy and the destruction of one of the few remaining green areas in the town.

They also claim the construction of yet more houses would put unbearable stress on the town's infrastructure, which, they say, is already stretched to breaking point.

Mark Rogers, whose home in Meadowsweet Drive borders the school, has issued more than 400 leaflets explaining the proposals to his neighbours.

He said he has been overwhelmed with the response as people wrote back to express their shock and voice their opposition.

He said: "One of the reasons we bought our home is because of the views. It's private, we are not overlooked and our quality of life is great at the weekend when the kids at the school go home.

"But the fundamental issue is that we should not be putting up more houses in Calne or, if we are, we should be looking at alternative brownfield sites."

Mr Rogers said residents "whole heartedly" supported the school which, he agreed, was likely to benefit from the deal.

But he stressed that the residents feared the impact of a new housing estate.

Springfield is a co-educational, residential school which teaches children aged between 11 and 16 who have behavioural difficulties.

The school aims to produce employable students who can play a useful role in society.

Councillors are divided about the proposals, but Wiltshire County councillor Nancy Bryant said she is in favour if the deal helps improve the

future for the children.

"Many of these children might cause problems in society when they are older unless they have proper support and understanding," she said.

"With the help of schools like Springfield these children can put something back into society and not just take it away.

"But we will not be able to give these children the facilities they need unless we can find the money from outside the education budget, because there just isn't enough to go round."

Mrs Bryant agreed it was important to balance housing with the town's infrastructure, but said that new shops, doctors' and dentists' surgeries would only come if the population was high enough.

Calne Town Mayor Tony Trotman said that, as yet, there had been no planning applications.

But he said it seemed inevitable there would development on the site.

He promised that the town council would fight to ensure as much green space as possible was retained at the site.

Coun Trotman pointed out that the house where the school is based has significant historical value to Calne. It used to be home to the Harris family who built Calne's meat-processing factory which was the town's heart and soul for many years.

The Mayor said several people had approached him about the possibility of preserving the Harris family house for the future.