Gosport school given green light for £1m expansion

Leesland Junior School, in Gosport, will be able to accept an extra 120 pupils once the £1m expansion is complete.

The decision was agreed by Councillor Peter Edgar, the cabinet member for education at Hampshire County Council.

In consultations carried out, parents of children who attend the school and people living in nearby Gordon Road and Whitworth Close raised concerns about parking.

They said there were not enough spaces and people were parking on double-yellow lines while picking up and dropping off their children.

Cllr Chegwyn agreed and said Leesland needed to look at offering parking within the school grounds.

‘There is a need for more off-site parking in the school so there is more access from Gordon Road,’ he said.

‘I do welcome the situation to offer more places, but there is concern about parking problems from the rapidly-expanding school.

‘There is a new nursery and a swimming pool. These issues should concern the council.’

As previously reported in The News, staff from Leesland met with parents and Cllr Edgar said the talks were successful.

He said: ‘Attending the public meetings, I was quite surprised, actually knowing people had these parking concerns, that I didn’t have more of a rough ride.

‘People actually see the need for a school campus at that location and they are delighted. The problems in Whitworth Close aren’t confined to school problems.’

Cllr Edgar added: ‘We consulted at length and people are very happy with the scheme. It will continue to be monitored as we give the highest priority to the safety of children going to school.’

Leesland Junior currently takes 90 pupils in Year 3 and there are another 60 students in Years 4, 5 and 6.

But the infants school it is federated with has grown and started taking 90 pupils each year, meaning the junior school needs to accommodate the influx of pupils.

It will see Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 each filled with 90 pupils, taking the school’s capacity to 360 by 2018.