Former Peterborough pub to be demolished next year in £6.8m project to expand special school

The city council agreed the purchase of the former Silver Jubilee pub in Heltwate, Bretton, for £650,000 earlier this year in order to allow the “very constrained” Heltwate School to increase in space.

Subject to planning permission being granted for the expansion plans - with a decision expected to be made shortly - the council will complete the purchase with demolition of the former pub taking place in May next year.

Works on the expansion are then due to begin in September 2021 and finish in June 2022, ahead of the 2022/23 academic year.

The Silver Jubilee closed several years ago and since then has been a target for anti-social behaviour, including arson attacks, while residents have complained that it is an eyesore.

Under the plans for Heltwate, a new two-storey building for early years pupils would be built on an area of designated public open space, with a new footpath and parking area proposed.

The mixed special school, which is rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted, currently offers education for pupils aged 5-19 years.

It is situated over two sites - the main site in Bretton which is home to Reception to Key Stage 3 pupils, and Heltwate St George’s in Lawn Avenue, Park ward, where Key Stage 4 and post-16 students are based.

The school caters for pupils with moderate to severe learning difficulties who all have an Education, Health and Care Plan.

The plans have previously been disclosed by the Peterborough Telegraph, but the council is now authorising £6.8 million to be spent on the project while beginning the process to hire the contractors.

The planning application states that the school has a need for increased hygiene and toilet facilities, specialist therapeutic curriculum space and additional space to accommodate an increase in the volume of mobility equipment, wheelchairs and standing frames.

It adds: “These complex needs make ordinary school activities unmanageable in the main school site with only one hall space and pressure on car parking and access to the school.

“One hundred per cent of pupils have an Educational Health and Care Plan and two-thirds of our pupils are on the autistic spectrum. They need appropriate accommodation to enable them to have their medical, personal care and social and emotional needs met.”

It had been proposed in 2017 to relocate Heltwate to a new site in Newark Road, however, the project had to be cancelled in February 2018 due to the financial collapse of contractors Carillion.

Currently, the school only has one hall which is oversubscribed, while there are also insufficient classroom sizes.

The new site would have its own visitor and staff parking as well as a minibus/taxi pick-up and drop-off space within a secured enclosure.

It would also have five classrooms, shared hygiene room facilities and food technology, sensory room and staff room facilities, as well as a multi-purpose hall and dining area.

If the proposals are approved, the new building will cater for Nursery, Reception and Year 1 pupils, while the main site will provide for Key Stage 2 and 3 pupils.

Heltwate St George’s would continue to host Key Stage 4 and post-16 students.

The Peterborough Telegraph revealed in April 2019 that the council was in talks with The Whitfield Group Ltd to purchase the former pub rather than allow it to be converted into 20 flats which it has planning permission for.