Fresh plans to expand Highgate School have met with scores of objections – including one complaint that a proposed music centre “looks like a car showroom”.

The £31,500 a year private school has been locked in a row with residents for a decade over the scheme to redevelop four sites across the village.

Over 10 years they hope to modernise facilities and potentially add more pupils.

. Refurbish and extend the sixth form and music block Dyne House in Southwood Lane.

. Develop the science block opposite including a new four storey building with a rooftop observatory.

. Demolish the Richards music centre in Bishopswood Road and build a new two-and-a-half storey drama and performance centre.

. Partially demolish and extend the Mallinson Sports Centre in Bishopswood Road to build a double height sports hall, classrooms, offices, gym, exercise studios, covered courts and sunken pitch.

Residents have been fighting the plans for a decade claiming they will ‘destroy the village’.

Residents up in arms about plans for Highgate School expansion

But residents say the 1,900 pupils and 650 teachers and support staff already cause daily traffic gridlock and put pressure on historic streets – without adding years of construction traffic and yet more students.

Following a series of consultation meetings with residents and conservation groups last year, the plans were revised and resubmitted in February.

But groups slammed the amended plans as “disappointing” and urged residents to voice their concerns to Haringey Council.

The music centre drew multiple objections with the The Highgate Society dubbing it an overdevelopment that would double the size of the building.

“Highgate’s distinctive character derives from the balance between school buildings, open spaces and surrounding residential streets,” they wrote.

“Development which allows institutional buildings to dominate this balance risks undermining the historic character and significance of the conservation are.”

The Highgate Neighbourhood Forum complained it had spent valuable time and resource responding to various applications “much of which seems to have been largely ignored”.

They said of the demolition and rebuild of the music centre: “The existing building has the traditional appearance of a sports pavilion which is well suited to its location.

“The proposed replacement building, by contrast, with its acres of glazing and very long low-pitched roofs, resembles a car showroom on an industrial estate or a main road and so totally unfit for the conservation area.”

Many complained that 10 years of disruptive building work would involve felling 48 mature trees and would bring no benefit to the community.

“The school is a valued neighbour and important employer, but expansion will change Highgate as a place to live and work, probably increasing traffic and impacting the conservation area,” one wrote.

Another added: “The works may produce an improved environment for the students and staff at the school. But none of the proposals appear to be essential for the school to continue to thrive.”

One urged Haringey Council to cap pupil numbers saying the current capacity was already too much.

“Highgate cannot accommodate the additional traffic over many years that the building works will create, nor additional pupils at Highgate School should the school choose to expand pupil numbers in the future.”

Another wrote: “As a resident of North Road, I see the traffic and parking chaos caused by the existing schools on a daily basis. These new works will add to it many-fold, as well as make the roads dangerous for us and our children.

“People move to and stay in Highgate for the peace, quiet and greenery. Please shut this down!”

But several backed the plans with one commenting he had “seen the benefit, both economic and social that as a community we have gained by having a highly rated school in our area”.

Highgate School : ‘bedrock of the community’ or just ‘shabby’?

Another described the existing music buildings as “awful, shabby…Victorian outdated, inefficient, and unsustainable” adding: “Replacing them with well designed modern facilities will be a boon to the area. I think we can put up with a bit of disruption – you can’t make omelettes without breaking eggs.”

A third said: “Highgate School has been a bedrock of the community for over a century, and, in part, made the area of Highgate the success it is today.”

A spokesperson for Highgate School told this paper its strategy “is focused on replacing ageing facilities to meet environmental standards and improve accessibility, whilst maintaining the size of the school”.

They added: “As a direct result of the community workshops, we have set up dedicated working groups between the school and the community, around transport and traffic, and the environment.

“These groups meet regularly to continue dialogue and working with our neighbours including the impact of our building work plans, along with any other issues in those areas.”

In a previous statement in February the school said it was proud to be part of the Highgate community and had made several changes to the plans after consultation and would continue to work with the community to minimise disruption if planning permission is granted.

Source: https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/26028272.highgate-school-expansion-plans-slammed-residents/