St Joseph’s Primary School, Billingham

Introduction

Welcome to our public engagement page for St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Low Grange Avenue, Billingham. 

​Bowmer + Kirkland and the Department for Education are excited to announce plans for a new replacement school building to replace the existing outdated facilities at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School. The proposed development is being funded and delivered by the Department for Education. The project team have been working hard to design proposals that meet the varying needs of the community in providing modern, fit-for-purpose educational facilities for generations to come.

​Now is the time to let us know what you think about the design proposals ahead of the proposed planning application being submitted. 

​Undertaking public engagement with the local community in advance of submitting a planning application is an important part of the process for the applicant and allows members of the public and the local community to engage with the vision for the site and to provide valuable feedback on the proposals. 

​Once the application has been submitted there will also be an opportunity to comment as part of the planning application process.​ 

The Site

The Site comprises the existing St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School which is located to the East of Billingham town centre in Stockton-on Tees on Low Grange Avenue.  

​The existing school is constructed adjacent to St Joseph’s RC Church which borders the site on its North-eastern boundary, the freehold owner of which is Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. The grassed area to the northeast of the school’s main entrance and west of St Joseph’s RC Church formerly housed the Presbytery (the Priest’s house). The school have advised that this house was demolished some time ago, and the area grassed over and the school use this for soft play The school is constructed of two blocks EFAA and EFAB (refer to plan below). EFAA contains the KS1 and KS2 pupils, hall and kitchen. EFAB is a small prefabricated demountable unit that was used as a staffroom pre-COVID-19.

​The site is predominately surrounded by residential uses (to the north, east and south). To the west, there is the New Life Family Centre. Within the wider vicinity of the site there are several other educational facilities including Oakdene Primary School, Bewley Primary school, St Michael’s Catholic Academy, Bishopton Pupil Referral Unit and Bede Sixth Form College. 

​The site is less than 400 metres walk from the nearest bus stop at Low Grange Avenue stores, where buses 34 and 52 operate every 5-10 mins to Stockton and Middlesbrough.  Billingham train station is located approximately 1 mile to the south of the site. 

​The schools’ main vehicular entrance is located off Neasham Avenue to the North. The vehicular entrance is used for both service/delivery access, as well as access to the staff car park. Parent and pupil access is primarily through the two pedestrian entry points East of the site. An additional pedestrian access point North of the site is primarily used by visitors to the school needing to access the reception, and parents and pupils of the Nursery. 

​The site is not within a Conservation Area and there are no other nearby heritage assets which would be impacted by the proposed development. 

​Environment Agency mapping indicates that the site is almost entirely located in Flood Zone 1, with a small area of Flood Zone 2 within the north western section of the site.  The site is at low risk of flooding from all other sources. The flood risk to the development is considered to be low overall. 

The Proposal

The Proposed Development seeks to demolish the existing buildings EFAA and EFAB at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, and to construct a new replacement one-two storey school building with associated landscaping, car parking and outdoor play facilities.

The new Primary school will be designed for 210 pupil places for ages 4-11 plus 26 FTE nursey places; as per the existing school.

The Site is an existing school site within the existing development limits, and therefore the principle of re-developing the site for continued education use is already established, and is supported by Local Plan Policy TI2 – Community Infrastructure, which confirms that the Council will support proposals of education, training and health care providers to meet the needs of communities.

The Site contains allocated playing fields, however, it is important to note that the proposal will result in no loss of playing fields as the proposed new build would be situated to the northern end of the Site.  It is understood that Sport England may be consulted on the planning application in respect of future sports provision, but as there will be no impact on playing fields, the scheme should be considered to be acceptable to Sport England.

It is recognised that the Site is located within close proximity to existing residential dwellings in all directions. The design of the Proposed Development is currently undergoing an iterative design process which seeks to ensure that the new building will exhibit a scale and massing which is appropriate to the area and which does not impose upon existing residential amenity.

The new building, whilst located nearer to residential dwellings than the existing building, seeks to locate the main hall and other storage areas along the western elevation to ensure that there is no first floor level along this elevation, the elevation which is closest to existing residential amenity along Newbury Way, in order to ensure that is does not cause any adverse impacts in terms of overlooking and privacy on existing residents. In addition, careful consideration is being given to the proximity of the new building to the existing church and existing school, which would remain operational during the construction phase.

The proposed materials palette and colour scheme will be modern, providing autumnal tones, and provides visual connection to the nearby Secondary school St Michaels. It will be accompanied by a hard and soft landscaping scheme to ensure that the proposed new building will visually integrate into the existing character of the area.

Providing your Feedback

We would welcome any feedback you may have on the proposed development. To tell us what you think, please use the feedback form below, or send any comments you may have to consultation@dppukltd.com, where your feedback will be logged and any queries answered.

Alternatively, if you prefer not to use a computer, please feel free to post your comments to:

Studio 015, Haylofts, St Thomas Street, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 4LE

We will also be hosting a public engagement session on Thursday 29th June 2023 from 3:30pm until 6pm at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Low Grange Avenue, Billingham. Please access the consultation event via the main entrance to the school.

Please provide your comments by Thursday 6th July 2023.

Once the planning application has been submitted, full details will be available on the Council’s website and there will be a further opportunity to comment. 

We look forward to receiving your comments on the proposed development.