Why is the school being redeveloped?

Many of the buildings within the site - though not Sidestrand Hall itself - are in a poor physical condition and have been identified as requiring replacement. Funding for a comprehensive redevelopment of existing educational floorspace has been secured as part of the Department for Education’s School Rebuilding Programme, a national programme aimed at replacing school buildings on sites that have been shown to have the most acute need for new accommodation. Sidestrand Hall School has been prioritised by the Department for Education to be part of the third cohort of schools, one of the first 200 projects to be started under this initiative.

There is a further justification that is relevant to Sidestrand Hall School in that the site is located on the coast where cliff erosion is also a consideration. The proposals seek to move some of the existing teaching space further back into the site (away from the sea) to provide greater longevity in the use of the school facilities over the coming decades.

Key Site Constraints

The redevelopment of the school needs to take place within the boundaries of its existing site. Wooded areas which surround the existing school buildings are an important landscape feature of the area and it is important that the location proposed for the new building avoids harm being caused to significant trees within the school site. This is a constraint which has been taken into account as part of the scheme layout.

Continued erosion of the cliffs to the northern end of the site has caused significant land slippage in recent years with ongoing erosion predicted to result in the loss of parts of the northern area of the school site in the coming decades. Land predicted to be lost to the sea in the next 80 years is recognised as a Coastal Erosion Constraint Area (CECA). It is a requirement of this publicly-funded redevelopment that new buildings are located beyond this CECA line which further limits options for the siting of the new building.

These two constraints significantly limit the area of land available for the construction of the new school building. Siting options are limited to a triangular area of land to the south of the existing access drive which provides separation from existing trees and is on the necessary landward side of the 80 year Coastal Erosion Constraint line.

Support St Michael’s Church

St Michael’s church is adjacent to the school and the school hopes to continue to support St Michael’s as a community neighbour. This will be via the provision of car parking spaces which can be used by the church within the school site outside of school hours. This will help to support the church community with safe passage from the school site to the church via the footpath. The Church does not presently have car parking.The church itself, as is now the case at the school, was affected by coastal erosion with its original site disappearing over the cliff by the late nineteenth century. The building was dismantled and moved 650 yards inland to its current position where it was rebuilt as a close copy of the original, including its round tower.