Parents angry after plan for playground scuppered by hotel view

Parents at a central London primary school say they feel let down after local planning officers advised against a new playground for 200 pupils partly because it would "harm the view" of a nearby 5-star hotel.

- Harriet Grant

St Peter's school in Belgravia has only a small - 170 sq metres - strip of playspace for 200 pupils and sits minutes from Victoria station in one of the densest corners of London.

Rebecca Bryant has led a two-year process to build a playground, leading to a design that would take up part of the road outside, closing it to traffic. The road is a quiet one, with busy traffic passing by at both ends but not cutting through, according to some of the parents, who say that even during rush hour at school drop-off hardly any cars drive up the road.