FAQS

• The new secondary school will provide facilities that will be available for community use outside of the school’s operational hours, these include:

• Outdoor sports pitches (including a 5 a side pitch) and two multi-use outdoor games areas.
• An indoor sports hall.
• A performance centre for drama, music and live events.
• Teaching rooms and IT facilities for adult learning courses.
• The Big Education Trust operate the very successful School 21 in Stratford whereby the school facilities are used by the community outside of the school’s operational hours. The Trust is excited to bring this approach to Plaistow – supporting the local community groups through providing their facilities for local community use.

• Plaistow Place will include high-quality public spaces, landscaped areas and tree-lined streets, providing an inviting and pleasant environment for everyone.

• A number of new public spaces will be provided, including a retail unit, a coffee shop, workspace, children’s playspace and a community room  The proposals will include spaces that will be able to host community events throughout the year.

• Newham Council recently published their Education Strategy, ‘Places for All  – A School Place Planning Strategy 2020-2025’ (which is available here) and identified a need to deliver more secondary school places in the Borough.

• The Strategy identified this site as suitable to provide a much needed secondary school.

• School 21 is hugely successful and has achieved ‘Outstanding’ from Ofsted.

• School 21 is delighted to extend its education vision to Plaistow.

• The school will become an important community asset providing much needed school places, but also providing facilities that can be used by the local community.

• If planning is secured, the school would open in September 2024.

The proposals will deliver approximately 340 new homes that will provide family and affordable homes, including social rented homes.

We have already held two public consultation on the earlier plans, in November/December 2020 and February/March 2021. The results showed that people would like to see more outdoor areas, new food shops and places to eat, and for the school’s facilities to be open to the public to use (particularly for sports and evening classes). We have been working to incorporate all these ideas into our proposals.

• The site has a public transport accessibility level (PTAL) of 5/6 which is the highest possible rating, meaning the site benefits from excellent access to public transport.

• The site is adjacent to Plaistow London Underground (LU) station, served by both the Hammersmith & City Line and the District Line.

• There are a number of bus stops located along Plaistow Road, providing access to the surrounding areas.

• Given the excellent transport links, students and residents will be encouraged to use the available public transport services, as well as walk and/or cycle to and from the school.

• The proposal will also provide cycle parking which the school and residents will use, further promoting sustainable transport.

• In terms of car parking, the overall number of car parking spaces will be low.  There will be a small number of spaces provided for the school which are required for operational purposes. For residents, a small proportion of disabled car parking spaces will be provided, in line with the Council’s Transport policy.

• The Council’s Local Plan allocated the site for a tall building and supports building height of up to 20 storeys in height.

• In 2019, planning permission was granted for a 19 storey building on this site.

• The surrounding area is experiencing significant change with developments such as Plaistow Hub, a 23 storey building adjacent to Plaistow LU station, coming forward.

• The masterplan proposes buildings which vary in height, with lower scale buildings of 6 to 8 storeys in height closest to Corporation Street, and medium to higher rise buildings, between 14 to 20 storeys height, adjacent to Plaistow LU station. The overall building heights are in line with the Council’s Local Plan policy.

• We have sensitively designed the buildings and their height to correspond with the immediate environment.
• The tall buildings are located in an area where there is an emerging cluster of tall buildings coming forward in Plaistow Hub. Therefore, our vision is to ensure the tall building will positively respond and complement the emerging context.

• The lower rise buildings will vary in height, with 8 storeys closer to the station, stepping down to 6 storeys to respond to the character of Corporation Street. The scheme will also provide an access road which further increases the separation distance between the scheme and Corporation Street.

The Department for Education is bringing forward these proposals for both the school and the new homes. The Department for Education will be responsible for delivering the school, and the residential scheme will be brought forward by a development partner at a later date. Countryside Properties plc were previously involved in developing earlier design proposals of the scheme, however they are no longer involved in the project.

The scheme will come forward in two phases, the new school will be delivered in the first phase, and the remaining masterplan including the new homes will be brought forward in the second phase.