Bowdon Church School are planning to increase their pupil intake by 50% from 420 to 630 pupils. To do this they will be building a brand new school on the Grange Road playing fields. Once complete in September 2015 the old school will be demolished and used for staff parking.

We believe the plan has a number of flaws and we petition Trafford Council to withdraw the proposal. In particular:

o The plan results in a significant loss of protected open space. Approximately 50% of the field will be surrounded by metal fencing for exclusive use by the school.

o There is already severe traffic congestion at school times. Grange Road is a narrow cul-de-sac which is unsuited to the volume of traffic. Journeys to school by car have increased despite the school's attempts to reduce them. There is nothing in the plans to cope with the traffic that an extra 210 pupils will generate and this is bound to have safety implications.

o This is the wrong location to provide the additional places. Pupils in the expanded diocese will come from as far as Timperley and Broadheath and possibly further. They are almost certain to travel by car which will result in more congestion in Altrincham as well as around the school. Additional pupil places provided closer to where they live would cut congestion, reduce greenhouse gases and promote better health by encouraging more pupils to walk to school.

o The new BFET school planned for Bowdon has the potential to offer 420 additional places which would meet any additional need in the local area. This has not been properly taken into consideration by Trafford Council.