Langley Park School for Girls successfully overturns High Court decision (From News Shopper)

Langley Park School for Girls successfully overturns High Court decision

7:50am Tuesday 4th August 2009 in

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PLANS for a new £38m school have been quashed by appeal judges, leaving governors and council chiefs dismayed and frustrated.

Last summer, Langley Park School for Girls and the neighbouring Langley Park School for Boys became locked in a dispute over a large-scale development at the boys’ school.

The conflict began when Bromley Council gave the green light to a planning application which would have seen the majority of the buildings at the boys’ school bulldozed and replaced with state-of-the-art classrooms, a concert hall and sports pitches.

The dispute went to the High Court where judges sided with the council and boys’ school.

However, the girls’ school then took the case straight to the Court of Appeal.

And on Friday (July 31), judges agreed Bromley Council was wrong to grant the application with the information it was given.

The local authority’s portfolio holder for children and young people Councillor Ernest Noad said: “I am deeply disappointed with the court’s decision.

“We share the aspirations of young people in our borough, recognise the importance of high quality facilities and for these reasons we are determined to achieve this scheme.”

The plans were unpopular with teachers and governors at the girls’ school who were worried about the close proximity of the new buildings and sports facilities to their classrooms.

Both schools share the same patch of Metropolitan Open Land in Hawksbrook Lane, Beckenham.

Langley Park School for Boys chairman of governors Charlie Grimble says his school would immediately be submitting another application and insisted the rebuild would be finished by 2012.

Mr Grimble said: “Though dismayed by this setback we remain committed to providing, at the earliest possible opportunity, the education facilities our 1,600 plus pupils deserve.”

Finance chiefs at the council are now pouring over details of the ruling to ascertain how much the legal process has cost.

Council leader Councillor Stephen Carr says the local authority has not ruled out a costly challenge to the latest decision at the Supreme Court.

He said: “We remain confident the council has behaved lawfully and appropriately in dealing with this planning application.

“We are therefore extremely frustrated the Court of Appeal has now ruled in a different direction, bringing further delay and costs to this scheme.”

The headteacher and chairman of governors at Langley Park School for Girls were not available for comment.

Although a Government-funded school, Langley Park School for Girls chose to dispute the decision taken by Bromley Council last June.

The foundation school is run by an independent governing body which is free to make its own decisions about the way the school is run.

Although education bosses at the council can offer advice to these schools, they do not have the power to stop them contesting planning decisions.

The girls’ school felt the planning process had not been followed correctly when the council approved an application from Langley Park School for Boys which only provided a single set of designs, impacting on Metropolitan Open Land.