Where Should The New Secondary School Be Sited?

Three Rivers Council issued a questionnaire asking a range of planning questions but the most important to Rickmansworth was "Where do we put the new school?". Hertfordshire Council's consultants reviewed no fewer than 30 sites and had finally put forward just three sites as being suitable for the new school, one at Maple Cross and two in Croxley. Three Rivers Council disagreed, in our view quite justifiably, and added two further sites to those to be considered further, another one in Croxley and one more at Maple Cross. Your committee considered the various ideas and submitted a five-page document which concluded by recommending that the school be built on the Froghall Farm site, between the Uxbridge Road and the river near junction 17 of the M25.

Your Association focused on two factors when making its recommendation, the impact on the community of the traffic flow induced by a new school and the impact on the community and landscape of the loss of open land. Although the Froghall Farm site would need direct access onto a rebuilt roundabout at the end of the spur road leading to Junction 17 of the M25, there should be few traffic problems introduced by the construction of a fourth exit off the roundabout and this site, provided adequate on-site provision is made for car parking and for car and bus unloading and collecting passengers, would provide the best and easiest access of all the short-listed sites. Additionally this site would use public transport that is currently lightly loaded because of the dominance of schools and employment in Rickmansworth, Croxley Green and south Watford. Considering the impact on the landscape and local area, development of a school on the Froghall Farm site would be using land that, although in the Green Belt, is now marginal, tucked away out of sight and is flanked by residential and commercial development. It would, therefore, be taking land that is currently of the least utility of all 5 sites shortlisted.

Responses from Rickmansworth were totally swamped by an enormous response from Croxley Green that was almost unanimous in opposing any development in Croxley Green and asking for the new school to be sited at Maple Cross.

The committee's submission can be read in full here.