Carter Jonas has secured planning consent on behalf of the Perse Upper School for a substantial new sports centre.

The new 2,706 sq m facility will be located within the Perse School’s existing campus on Hills Road, to the south of the city centre.

Plans include a swimming pool, sports hall, climbing wall and changing village, together with associated car and cycle parking and landscaping.

A Community Access Agreement, to be secured by a planning condition, will enable local people to use the facilities either through affiliation with local sports clubs or on a ‘pay and play’ basis. This will include early morning and evening swimming two days a week in addition to weekend family swimming sessions. 

Each week, local residents will benefit from 45 hours of access, rising to 80 or more during the school holidays.

A contractor has been appointed and construction is expected to proceed as soon as pre-development planning conditions are approved by the City Council.

Colin Brown, head of planning & development at Carter Jonas in Cambridge, said: ‘Achieving planning consent for this new facility was challenging as it displaces a protected playing field which is technically in conflict with the Local Plan. However, the opportunity for both the Perse School and local residents to benefit from some excellent new facilities was seen as a substantial benefit, both in terms of education and health and wellbeing. As such, we were pleased to make a strong case for the proposal, and we are delighted that it was positively received by the City Council.’

Alison Shakespeare, bursar of The Perse said: ‘We are extremely pleased to have achieved planning permission for this exciting project.  Carter Jonas has been involved from the outset, and their help and advice has been invaluable.”

In achieving planning success, Carter Jonas worked alongside architects Saunders Boston and AECOM (project managers and quantity surveyors).

Consent was awarded by Cambridge City Council on October 5 2022.

Image source: Carter Jonas

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