Manor Way 'still best access route' for Breakspeare School

Hertfordshire County Council staff still believe that Manor Way is the best access road to the relocated Breakspeare School in the disused former Durrants School playing field, according to a review of all the possible options published on September 19.

County councillors had postponed their decision on the project in July to allow officers to reconsider all the possible access routes, as Conservative councillor Ken Crofton warned at the time that Manor Way was “completely unsuitable”.

A CGI of how the new school could look. (Image: Hertfordshire County Council/Holmes Miller) He added that the development “should and must go ahead, but only with a proper review of the access road”.

The survey was carried out by engineering consultants PJA on behalf of HCC, which concluded with officers saying they had not changed their judgment that Manor Way was the best access route.

A CGI of how the new school could look. (Image: Hertfordshire County Council/Holmes Miller) Other options such as via Killingdown Farm, Lincoln Way and Grove Crescent were also shortlisted, but were discounted over possible impacts on nearby Little Green Junior School and HCC needing to buy up private land.

Steve Middleton (left) and Cllr Chris Lloyd (right) in Manor Way where it would be extended to form the site access. (Image: Cllr Chris Lloyd) When the new school plans were submitted in March, it sparked fears among the quiet road’s residents who said it was too narrow to support traffic for a school which will have 169 parking spaces.

Eilish Joyce, 74, who also lives in Manor Way, said: “It’s going to be absolutely chaos during school time and pick-up and drop-off times.

The proposed site access through Manor Way. (Image: Google Maps/Canva) “Also, when they come to build in the school, how are they going to get the vehicles up? It’s only a little cul-de-sac.”

A public consultation received 46 objections over the access road and fears of overdevelopment in Croxley Green, while a petition asking HCC to consider other routes garnered 142 signatures.

• New school plan decision deferred amid access fears
• Final plans for 210-pupil school Breakspeare School revealed

At the meeting in July, councillor Crofton also said: “To expect Manor Way residents to tolerate this torrent of traffic with an apparently phased arrival and departure is ludicrous because that is a theoretical paper-exercise that just doesn’t happen in reality with late arrivals and changes.”

Cllr Ken Crofton said Manor Way was “completely unsuitable” as an access road at the meeting in July. (Image: HCC) Breakspeare School had 97 places in 2023, which increased to 145 earlier this year when it began using a satellite location for a smoother transition.

If approved, the new school site would see its numbers increase to 210.