Primary school with parking at Land Parcel, Broadwood Rise, Broadfield, Crawley

The proposed school

The application proposed a two-storey primary school for 190 pupils and 27 staff, with playing space, landscaping and a partially underground 38-space car park.

“This planning application seeks permission for a two-storey primary school, with external playing area and a partially underground basement car park. The envisaged capacity is for 190 pupils with 27 teaching staff. The building would have a gross total floorspace of 1060sqm. The car park would have a gross floorspace of 1115sqm. The overall gross floorspace, including the partial basement car park, would be 2175sqm.”

“The partially underground car park is proposed under much of the site and would be below the natural land level of the site at it southern end adjacent to the Mosque and would be beneath the raised land levels at the northern end of the site adjacent to Jersey Road. A new access for the car park would be formed from Jersey Road to the north.”

Officer report

The site and surroundings

The site is an overflow car park beside the mosque, on sloping land designated as ancient woodland and adjoining Target Hill Nature Reserve.

“The area rises steeply from the north to the south and there is an increase in height of approximately 3.5m between the ground level of Jersey Road to the north and the level of the Mosque to the south. The site, (identified as ancient woodland), has been predominantly cleared of trees, is laid with road scalpings to provide space for the parking of vehicles for the adjacent Mosque.”

“To the east of the site, on the opposite side of Broadwood Rise, is an area of Council owned land around Creasy’s Brook that is also designated as ancient woodland. A public bridleway that extends to the north between St Helier Close and Sark Close then runs to the east along the north side of Jersey Road before going south to the A264 along the east side of Broadwood Drive.”

Officer report

Earlier planning history

Earlier permissions covered a mosque garden and temporary parking, while permission to fell all site trees and a similar school proposal were refused.

“In 2007 planning permission (CR/2007/0136/COU) was granted for a change of use of this site to a garden for use by visitors to the adjacent Mosque. The site was cleared of most of the undergrowth and trees, but the change of use was not implemented. Instead, the site was used for vehicle parking.”

“Subsequent to the clearing of the site in 2009, planning permission (CR/2009/0205/COU) was granted retrospectively for the change of use of the application site from amenity land to temporary vehicle parking with the creation of a permeable hardstand area and proposed landscaping.”

Officer report

Why officers recommended refusal

Officers considered that the school would harm ancient woodland, protected trees, visual character, mosque parking and other planning interests.

“In conclusion, it is considered that while great weight is to be given to the principle of meeting a communities need for a faith school, as it would not be a state funded school and could have an adverse impact on existing school provision in the local area where there is a surplus of spaces, the proposal is not supported by the DCLG Policy Statement August 2011– Planning for schools development.”

“The development which would be located within a designated area of ancient woodland, would result in the loss of protected trees and would also have an unacceptably close relationship, with no 15m buffer zone, to the adjoining ancient woodland to the west of the site. The loss of the protected trees would harm the amenity of the area.”

Officer report

Who spoke

Two neighbours and a councillor spoke against the application; the agent, applicant, architect, four councillors and the Member of Parliament spoke in support.

Members’ debate

Members disagreed about woodland harm, the buffer, tree loss, design, parking and the weight of the school’s community benefits.

“Further, several Committee members suggested that they felt that the impact on the area of ancient woodland, as set out in refusal reason 1, was overstated and was therefore not a valid refusal reason.”

“It was highlighted that the NPPF sets out that development affecting ancient woodland can proceed if there are ‘wholly exceptional reasons’ for doing so. Many Committee members felt that the proposed development was of significant importance to the local community; there was significant unmet demand for the provision of a Muslim faith school and this would be highly beneficial to residents.”

Minutes

The refusal vote

A majority voted against refusal, overturning the officer’s recommendation, after the refusal motion was proposed and seconded.

“The Committee then moved to a vote on the recommendation to refuse the application as set out in the report. The recommendation was moved by Councillor Rana as the Chair and seconded by Councillor LeTissier as the Vice-Chair.”

“The majority of Committee members voted against refusal of the application, so the officer’s recommendation was overturned.”

Minutes

Why the decision was deferred

The committee deferred the application so the proposed reasons for overturning refusal and possible conditions could be tested and discussed.

“It was explained that, during the adjournment, officers had met with the Chair and Vice- Chair as well as Councillors Hilton and Charatan (as the movers of the proposed reasons and the majority of the proposed conditions respectively).”

“Following advice from the Legal Advisor regarding the motion’s compliance with the Constitution, Councillor Hilton agreed to an amendment to the wording of the motion. It was moved that the application be deferred to the Planning Committee meeting on 2 September 2026 (if that can be accommodated) to have the proposed reasons tested and discussed. This was seconded by Councillor Charatan.”

Minutes