Plans for Peace Centre education facility given green light

Warrington Borough Council’s planning application came before the council’s development management committee at its meeting on Thursday.

The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Peace Foundation was set up after the IRA bombing of Warrington in 1993, which took the lives of Tim Parry, aged 12, and Johnathan Ball, aged three.

Out of that tragedy, the Peace Foundation was established and named in honour of the two boys, and on the seventh anniversary of the bombing, on March 20, 2000, the Peace Centre building was opened in Great Sankey.

The planning application proposed the provision of a post-16 and post-19 educational facility – a Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) facility – within the existing Peace Centre building to include classrooms, multi-purpose spaces, and ancillary spaces including a ground floor extension.

It also proposed external facilities provided include an all-weather walking track, horticultural learning area, playground, car parking for mini-buses and enlarged pick-up and drop-off spaces.

The Peace Foundation would occupy space within the building for office use and a multi-use space for occasional activities.

There would be an expansion of the existing staff parking provision of the St Gregory’s school car park and provision of a safe drop-off and pick up area together with a turning circle along Peace Drive.

Speaking in favour of the application, Louise Atkin said: “Just to say, from an educational perspective, the consideration of this building is because it’s now mainly empty – with the Peace Foundation only using a couple of the offices that are on site.”

She highlighted that it is ‘no longer being used to the extent that it was built for’.

“However, at its peak, this building delivered events for about 300 young people and families on site and, therefore, it seems appropriate that the building should accommodate further children and young people in Warrington again,” she said.

“And that’s why the potential for the building was identified for a site for specialist provision purposes by Warrington Borough Council.

“Other reasons for identification are that it provides a central location, building into our accessibility strategy within the council and also for wider families to access that provision.”

She added that the education team understand the ‘important history’ of the building and would like the opportunity to ‘build on’ the support it has provided to many children and young people.

As recommended, the committee confirmed that the committee is ‘minded’ to grant planning permission, so that ‘notice of the council’s intention to grant planning permission can be served on’ the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Furthermore, subject to the HSE not wishing to request that the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government calls the application in for their determination, or the HSE requesting that the Secretary of State calls in the application and the Secretary of State declines to do so, delegated authority is given to the development manager to make ‘non-material changes to planning conditions and reasons as may be necessary’ prior to the issue of the decision following expiry of notification period for the amended site plan provided that ‘no additional material objections’ are received that are not dealt with in the report to the committee.

The report to the committee said the principle of development would be ‘acceptable’, in relation to the conversion of the existing Peace Centre building into educational use.

It added: “The development would require the loss of the existing basketball court to the rear of the Peace Centre to provide additional parking in an accessible location, however, this is considered to be acceptable on balance when weighed against the need for local SEND provision for post-16 and post-19 age groups.

“Subject to conditions there would be no unacceptable impacts on visual or residential amenity, flood risk/drainage, existing trees or on the local highway network.”