School expansion scrapped over 'traffic chaos' fears

Controversial plans to double the size of a village school in Preston have been scrapped after locals warned any increase in traffic would make the roads in the rural area even more congested and risky than they already are.

- by Paul Faulkner

Almost 400 people signed a petition objecting to the expansion of Goosnargh Oliverson’s Church of England Primary School, which was approved by Lancashire County Council's cabinet back in December.

The authority has now pulled the plug on the proposal, which would have seen the number of pupils at the Goosnargh Lane facility double from 210 to 420 over the course of the next seven years.

It cited traffic and parking issues as being amongst the reasons for the reversal.

The move was initially given the green light in spite of the results of a public consultation last autumn in which 84 per cent of respondents expressed road safety fears in the face of a rise in vehicle numbers - which the separate petition described as already being at “staggering” levels during school pick-up and drop-off time.