Private-school expansion plan divides community

Reporter

Monday 8 October 2012

A VILLAGE community has been split by a row over a private school's application to build an extension on green-belt land.

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Jody Harrison

Campaigners in Kilmacolm, Inverclyde, are opposing St Columba's school plans to build a new annex on a local beauty spot known as Milton Wood.

The school say that it has to expand to offer the best standards of education, and insists the extension will be built in a way that is sensitive to the environment.

However, villagers opposed to the scheme say they will be losing a valuable resource used by many people every day. They also claim the scheme will open the door to further commercial development of the wood. Campaign member Liz Mosin, who lives opposite Milton Wood, said: "Hundreds of people go walking there each month because it's wooded, green-belt land and there is very little of that left in the area."The school has applied to the local council to use the land for educational purposes, but if that happens it will set a precedent for other sites on green-belt land."St Columba's has been established in Kilmacolm for more than a century and has a roll of 720 fee-paying pupils.The new annex would include science laboratories, classrooms and a drama studio, and would be accessed by a new 100-yard-long road.Colin McClatchie, chairman of the board of governors at St Columba's, said: "The school is bursting at the seams on our existing site. We have tried in the past to get planning permission to expand into two houses that were purchased in Kilmacolm, but have not been granted planning permission. This is the right site for the long-term prosperity of the school."He added: "There is a large groundswell of support for this project, but we recognise that there's a number of people that are against it, and we respect their opinions."But most of their objections relate to the prospect of housing being built in the woods, and this is not part of our plans in any way."The plans will go before lnverclyde Council on a date to be decided in November.

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Education

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Private-school expansion plan divides community

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