Unsafe school building to be demolished in spring

A school building ordered to close two years after it opened is due to be knocked down in early spring, according to council papers.

Buckton Fields Primary School in Boughton, near Northampton, opened in 2021 but was forced to close by the Department for Education (DfE) in August 2023 amid structural safety concerns.

Temporary classrooms have since been built on another part of the site and a new permanent building should be ready by September 2026, the plans confirm.

West Northamptonshire Council's planning committee is expected to approve retrospective planning permission for the temporary buildings at its next meeting on 8 January.

Pupils had to travel six miles (10km) away to Pineham Barns school for six months, while temporary classrooms were built on the playing field.

Buckton Fields was one of three UK schools - together with Sir Frederick Gibberd College in Harlow and Haygrove School in Somerset - closed by the DfE.

They shared the same building contractor, Caledonian Modular, which went into administration in March 2022.

Despite the challenges, the school was handed a "good" Ofsted rating in July.

An artist's impression of the latest school building was revealed last month.

Permission for the new construction will be sought in early 2025, according to the latest plans submitted by the DfE.

If everything goes ahead as expected, the temporary buildings will be demolished in summer 2025 and the playing pitch reinstated.

Buckton Fields Primary, run by Preston Hedges Trust, currently has temporary accommodation for 45 staff and 300 students.

The former modular building had been designed to accommodate 420 pupils and had 170 on its roll when it shut.

Two letters of objection were received by the council opposing the retrospective planning permission.

Proposals for the school were initially given the go-ahead in 2013 alongside those for 376 homes.