Southampton free school wins approval for permanent home on city centre site

Plans for a permanent home for a Southampton school on a former city centre shopping site have been given the green light.

The scheme will allow Hope Community School to leave its temporary home at Central Hall in St Mary Road.

Councillors have approved proposals submitted on behalf of the Department for Education (DfE) to transform the former East Street Shopping Centre land.

Principal Steve Wright told the panel: “You’re not being asked to approve a new school.

“You’re being asked to give a successful established school the permanent home it’s been waiting for since 2017, and the proposal does more than that.

“It transforms a long vacant brownfield site into a vibrant educational hub.

“It creates new opportunities for community use.

“It delivers high-quality facilities for local children and it brings life, learning and investment to a part of the city that has stood empty for many years.”

Hope Community School has been based at Central Hall in St Mary Road since 2017 and currently has 220 pupils on roll.

Councillors heard the application was for a two-form entry primary school for up to 420 pupils.

The planning permission allows two-form entry, but the school intends to operate as one-form entry with 60 SEND places following discussions with the local authority and the DfE.

The two-form model drew opposition from three other city schools and the council’s education service.

Mr Wright said: “Alongside our mainstream provision, Hope has the opportunity to play a leading role in supporting children with special educational needs, helping more families access the right support closer to home.”

The application received 100 supporting comments alongside 15 objections, including from council leader and Bargate ward member Sarah Bogle.

The site has been vacant since the shopping centre was demolished 12 years ago.

A planning officer’s report said the scheme’s benefits outweighed the conflict with planning policy, as the site is allocated for retail-led development.

Labour panel members Dave Shields and Ginnie Lambert voted against granting planning permission over concerns about it remaining a two-form entry development.

Cllr Shields said his concern was the additional vehicle movements, which he did not believe could be safely accommodated.

Cllr Lambert said her primary concern was the impact on other schools.

Liberal Democrat Sarah Wood said: “A free school by its very definition is going to be in competition with local authority schools, so it seems a bit odd getting a statement from the local authority education department who will be their competitor.”

Green councillor Sam Pryce said: “There may not be an existing need for more students.

“There does seem to be a need to move the existing students to a more suitable site.

“It’s worth noting we seem to be willing to strand children in a deeply inappropriate site for the sake of the building they would move to being too big, which seems a bad choice in my eyes.”

Reform UK’s Richard Piatkiewicz added: “The children are obviously in an inappropriate building at the moment and this can only be a benefit to them.”

The application tabled by Morgan Sindall was approved by five votes to two at the meeting on Tuesday, 21 July.

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