New primary school to serve Ledsham Garden Village submitted for planning approval

A proposed new primary school to be built as part of the Ledsham Garden Village housing development by Cheshire West and Chester Council has been submitted for planning approval.

Following a pre-planning consultation with the local community and key stakeholders held in February and March, the school’s architects have modified the design to ensure it can blend more sympathetically with the surrounding homes.

Over 140 people took part in the consultation by either completing an online survey or attending one of the two drop-in events held. Their feedback has helped inform the revised design.

The council is also seeking views on the school’s education specification, as part of the free school presumption process. This follows an initial consultation that took place in 2023. However, due to the time elapsed, a new informal consultation will now take place to give stakeholders a further opportunity to feedback their views.

The proposed two-storey school will be situated within the Ledsham Garden Village development to the west of Ellesmere Port and will primarily serve families residing in the area to minimise any additional traffic within the development.

The school would be served by excellent pedestrian and cycle connections within the development and will have a comprehensive school travel plan to encourage walking, wheeling and cycling by both staff and pupils and reduce car journeys.

Using current forecasts, the school would open initially as a 210 place (one form entry) mainstream primary school, with the intention to add a further 105 places (half form entry) expansion as the housing development progresses and the pupil place need rises.

The proposed school will also include a 26-place nursery and a 10-place Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Provision. Subject to approvals, the anticipated opening date for the school, nursery and SEND Provision would be September 2028.

Once all phases of the surrounding Ledsham Garden Village housing development are complete, the school would sit centrally within the development with new homes surrounding the school and would be located close to the new community playing pitches, community building and mini supermarket.

Although the new school has already been approved in principle, as part of the masterplan for the Ledsham Garden Village development, the detailed design of the proposed 1.5 Form Entry (FE) primary school (including its external appearance, landscaping, site layout and scale) will now be considered formally by way of a Reserved Matters planning application.

The application can be viewed on the online Council’s Planning Portal using the reference 26/01127/REM:

https://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/LedshamSchool

The educational consultation will run until 25 May 2025, the public can contribute their views via the Council’s consultation page:

www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/your-council/consultations-and-petitions/consultations 

Cllr. Adam Langan, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People said:

“Thank you to everyone that took part in our recent consultation, their views have helped shape our revised plans for the school which we have now submitted for approval whilst we also seek views on the school’s educational specification.

“We want the new school to become a key part of the Ledsham Garden Village community and offer local children the best start in life, and we look forward to working with the Academy Trust that will run the school once we complete the appointment process, currently expected in early 2027.”

Pictured - Architect visualisation for the proposed new Ledsham Road School.