A FORMER primary school site could become a sports site for school children under new council proposals.
St Catherine’s Primary School closed in the summer of 2021 after a “significant” decline in the number of pupils who attended the school.
But now there are plans to turn the abandoned site in Cutlers Place, Colehill, into a multi-use games area (MUGA).
Proposals lodged by Dorset Council and The Forum Centre, a special education school in Blandford, reveal plans to reconfigure the car park, the creation of a MUGA pitch along with new boundary fences.
Dorset Council said the proposed campus “will provide alternative education facilities” for key stages two to three, aged between seven and 14, with a capacity for up to 56 pupils.
A statement said: “A permeable MUGA with an all-weather walking track has been provided. This is adjoined by the rubber bark mulched area where the new play equipment is located.
“These include a slide, a trim trail, two in ground trampolines and monkey bars. This adjoins the hard tarmac area for mixed use which retains the original tarmac surface in situ.”
However, a report found that the scheme going ahead would result in five trees being cut down, small sections of hedge and some grass lost.
The statement added: “However, a lot of thought has gone into mitigating this by supporting the remaining existing habitats, enhancing and extending them as much as reasonably possible and then also creating some new habitat types such as areas of wild flower meadow, native perennial woodland planting, rain garden planting and new ornamental planting to the front of the school.”
St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School - part of the Plymouth CAST Multi Academy Trust - had just 48 pupils attending in 2021, 23 per cent full.
The school was graded Inadequate across the board in its last full Ofsted inspection in 2019 when inspectors said the safety of pupils was at risk, teaching was inadequate and staff ignored school policies.
A planning statement said: “The additional benefits of the proposed development include year-round sports on the proposed MUGA.
“A variety of new and interesting ways of learning with the introduction of the forest school.”
Dorset Council will decide on the proposals in due course.
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