Oundle C of E Primary School, Oundle

LPA: North Northamptonshire Council

Client: Oundle Church Of England Primary School

Oundle School is one of Britain’s leading co-educational boarding and day schools. As part of Project 24 launched in 2022, Oundle School set out its long term vision for ongoing investment, security and success for the years 2022-26. A key part of the investment plan is the improvement of the boarding house accommodation throughout the school estate.

The site comprises the former Oundle Church Of England Primary School which has been vacant since 2016. The Victorian part of the former primary school is a non-designated heritage asset which makes a positive contribution to the Oundle Conservation Area and is in close proximity to a number of listed buildings.

The development will provide a new high quality purpose-built 60 bed girls boarding house in a central location in Oundle following the demolition of the existing buildings on the site.

The project included pre-application discussions with the local planning authority, stakeholder and community engagement and a full planning application submission.

In support of the application, our heritage and planning team set out a robust case detailing the ‘balanced judgement’ and considerable public benefits of the scheme that would outweigh any heritage harm as required by Paragraphs 208 and 209 of the National Planning Policy Framework.

Smith Jenkins worked closely with the project team and Council to secure planning permission in a timely manner under delegated powers. Smith Jenkins are retained by Oundle School to deal with discharging planning conditions.