CHILDREN in Darras Hall can look forward to a brand-new primary school after plans were approved by Northumberland County Council.

The new building will be built on the site of the current Darras Hall First School on the current sports pitches, fronting on to Middle Drive.

This comes as part of the restructuring of the education system in Ponteland from a three-tier to a two-tier system.

The application was considered at a meeting of Northumberland County Council’s planning committee on Tuesday, where it was given unanimous approval by all members.

The approval was given despite over 80 objections which were submitted on the online planning portal.

Coun. Christine Caisley, Ponteland Town councillor for Ponteland East, spoke at the meeting to highlight residents’ concerns.

She said: “We support new schools. The building is in a very very dire state – there has been very little money spent other than on the middle school.

“We are not against a new or refurbished building, but not done in this way.”

She said that the online planning portal had not been updated with all of residents’ objections, which concern access and traffic congestion.

She also questioned the potential for flood risk and the health and safety aspects of an outdoor elevated classroom.

Officers advised that plans for a 3G flood-lit pitch had been withdrawn by the developer due to objections received about lighting.

The headteacher of Darras Hall First School, Victoria Parr, spoke at the meeting in support of the application.

She said: “We have a school built in the late 1960s for 1960s children and a 1960s curriculum.

“Since then there have been fundamental changes in education and the building limits the opportunities that we can provide to our children and the curriculum we can offer them.”

She added that the school’s budget was increasingly being used as a “sticking plaster” to fix the issues with the building and urged councillors to give the children the school they deserve.