PLANS for a new primary school at Elm Grove in Trowbridge have been dropped by Wiltshire Council following public consultation last month.

Local campaigners are celebrating the council’s decision to abandon plans to build the school on the Queen Elizabeth II recreation ground at Elm Grove which was given to the town in perpetuity to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

Questions were raised about the need for the primary school during the consultation in mid-January by site developers Coulston Estates. Residents argued it should be built on the West Ashton side of town.

Wiltshire Council said: “The recently released statistics on birth rates in the Trowbridge area show the two schools already planned for the Ashton Park development will help cater for numbers in the coming years.

“A third school, which was originally proposed for the Elm Grove area of Trowbridge, will no longer be required as the two new schools and extensions to existing schools will meet the need for the future.”

Stuart Jones, of Coulston Estates, said: “We are very grateful to all those local people who took the time to take part in our consultation.

“Their feedback has played an important role in ensuring the proposal responds appropriately to local need, such as prompting a closer look at projected primary school need in Trowbridge which has resulted in this change to the allocation.

“This demonstrates the importance of our desire to carry out meaningful public consultation with the local community before submitting our plans.

“It has always been our priority to deliver the best possible development at Elm Grove and to be guided by Wiltshire Council’s allocation.

“With the decision by the council to remove the school, we will now revise our masterplan for the site, including retaining and improving the existing Elm Grove recreation ground as part of an enlarged area of high-quality green public open space.”

Surrey-based Coulston Estates will now prepare an outline planning application to provide between 250 and 280 new family and affordable homes at the site.

The development plans are in response to the site’s proposed allocation for new homes in Wiltshire Council’s draft Housing Site Allocations Plan.

This is now in the final stages of preparation before public examination hearings at The Civic in April. The decision to abandon the Elm Grove school will be reported to the inspector in advance of the hearing sessions.

The under-used and poorly-drained recreation ground will be retained and enhanced as part of a plan to include a larger area of publicly-accessible green space.

Project updates will be posted on www.elmgrovetrowbridge.com.