School farm housing plan rejected

The school farm will have to close even if houses are not built

The £2m refurbishment of a Kent school is on hold after plans to build homes on the school's farm were rejected.

Staff and governors at Astor of Hever High School in Maidstone were seeking planning permission for 20 homes on two acres of land which house the farm.

They hoped the sale of the land would allow them to build a hall and replace temporary classrooms.

Parents opposed the closure of the farm but headteacher Martin Carroll said the school could not afford to run it.

Curriculum money

"The farm will have to close anyway," he said.

"We have tried and tried and tried to keep it going.

"But the money we put into the running of the farm has to come out of money that is given to the school for the curriculum.

"Over the years it has brought a lot to some children but we are faced with a decision about whether to put the money into the farm or improve things overall."

The 11-18 school, in Oakwood Road, Maidstone has 800 pupils.

Private money

Mr Carroll said he did not know where the money for the school improvements would now come from.

"The local education authority has tried to find funding for improvements in a number of ways," he said.

These included raising private money through the Private Finance Initiative.

"But other schools were more in need of funding than we were and we didn't make it on to the final short list."