A private school in Hove is being told it has to take down two temporary classrooms originally put up in 2012.
Lancing Preparatory School in The Droveway applied to extend the temporary planning permission until 2033, but this was refused in August.
Now, Brighton and Hove City Council has issued an enforcement notice ordering the cabins to be dismantled by November next year.
The extension was refused because the cabins were deemed ugly, and affected use of the cricket pitch they were placed next to.
The officer’s report said: “The proposed classrooms are not of a sufficient design quality and have a detrimental impact on the visual amenities of the local area.
“Due to their siting, the proposed classrooms and safety netting would detrimentally impact upon the usability of the cricket pitch.
“Although permission is sought for a temporary period in regard to the classrooms, this would bring the length of time the structures would be in place up to 21 years, and this is considered to be an unacceptable length of time for the usability of the cricket pitch to be detrimentally impacted upon.
“Furthermore, no permanent alternative solution has been put forward for assessment and the granting of a further extension to the temporary permission with no end goal in site is considered to be unacceptable.”
The school’s application, written by Lewis & Co Planning, said a suitable permanent solution was being looked for.
It said: “The temporary classrooms are used as form rooms for two form groups, whose belongings are stored there and accessed throughout the day. They are also used as humanities classrooms (History and Religion, Ethics & Philosophy).
“Without the temporary classrooms, the school would only have 6 classrooms of this type which accommodate classes of up to 18 pupils; however, at any one time they have up to 8 classes of this size needing this type of classrooms.
“Therefore, the temporary classrooms provide space which is essential for the school timetable to run.”
A previous application which asked to keep them permanently was opposed by Sport England, who said there was a risk of children being hit by balls when passing by the cricket pitch to get to the cabins.
The most recent application diverted the pathway behind the buildings, but Sport England still objected to the loss of part of the pitch.
“The school’s application, written by Lewis & Co Planning, said a suitable permanent solution was being looked for.”
The school has had since 2012 to find a solution. It should have found a solution in the last 12 years.
The danger is, if they can’t develop inside the school, they start acquiring residential property near by. This has happened to Brighton college
This is a secluded, private cricket pitch, owned by the school. Surely the trade off between having enough space for pupils, and taking up some fairly useless space on the edge of a pitch that gets very limited summer use, is the school’s concern. Planners need to learn to facilitate good decisions by property owners and reduce interference that doesn’t benefit anybody
Planning officers do help to facilitate good decsions (and good applications to enable good decsions) but approving an application for an extension on top of the about to end 12 years hardly shows good decision making by the property owner.