School site plans recommended for refusal

PLANS to develop a derelict school site in Portishead into residential accommodation will not be decided on until next month.

Gladman Care Homes wants to build 51 apartments for supported independent living for people aged over 55 at the former Portishead Primary School site in Slade Road.

It would comprise three and four-storey buildings plus parking, landscaping and a refuse compound.

Members of North Somerset Council’s north area planning committee voted to refuse the plans on Thursday. This means it will now be decided on by the authority’s planning and regulatory committee on December 7 because the north area committee’s recommendation went against council officers’ advice to approve the plans.

The school was based in Slade Road from 1914 until it moved to new premises in Station Road in 2003. The old school buildings were demolished years ago, leaving it a flat, clear, brownfield site.

It was purchased by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints in 2006 which planned to build a church, but after their congregations in Weston and Clevedon merged, they no longer had the need.