FRUSTRATED residents battling plans to build a new primary school at Croft warn they might move out of the area if Swindon Council approves the project.

The council is consulting on a planning application to open a school for up to 420 children, aged from four to 11, on a site next to the Croft Sports Centre, off Marlborough Lane, by September 2012.

Swindon Council says its pupil number projections show that a two-form entry school is needed in Old Town from September 2012 because all the other reception classes in schools in Old Town are full.

But residents claim the project would cause traffic chaos and have collated official data which they say shows the business case for needing a new school in the area does not stand up.

They say the gridlock would damage their quality of life so greatly, and the council has treated them so badly by ignoring and marginalising them, that they would consider leaving their homes, where many of them have lived for decades.

A new £1.5million football hub, including a floodlit 3G artificial grass pitch, five youth football and two mini football grass pitches, is currently being constructed at Croft Leisure Centre.

Professional artist David Bent and his wife Carole have lived for 16 years in Marlborough Lane, the existing access to Croft Sports Centre, which the council suggests parents could use to get to the school.

Carole said: “It’s going to be completely chaotic for the whole area around here. It has already been identified we have got problems with the amount of traffic.

“And we don’t know what the football hub is going to add to the amount of traffic. Every single person who knows Marlborough Lane says they’re mad to consider that.

“I would consider leaving Swindon if this goes ahead.

“If I think this is the kind of place where something like this can be pushed through, irrespective of intelligent people who care about the community, then that’s not a place I would wish to live.”

The issue dates back to October 2009, when the council published a feasibility study of nine possible sites for primary schools in Old Town and central Swindon.

Croft was highlighted as the top site for a new build. The report explains: “Good location, excellent access, no demolition required, green sports areas adjacent and available for use, future expansion area available, no relocation of existing provision required.”

However, residents claim Croft was “pre-selected” and was only chosen because it is already council-owned, adding that the £500,000 temporary East Wichel Primary School was sited at Croft “to get a foot in the door”.

Swindon Council told residents at a drop-in session in June that access for staff would be via Hesketh Crescent, and access for parents and pupils would be via Marlborough Lane, already the entrance to Croft Sports Centre and the delivery route for the Marriott Hotel.

Residents say that a £26,000 traffic assessment by contractor Halcrow, which informed the plans, is flawed. They claim the school would create gridlock twice a day, with parents blocking driveways and double-parking.

Kareen Boyd, 56, a mother of one who has lived in Hesketh Crescent since 1990, said she would also consider leaving.

“I don’t want to live in a car park,” she said. “We will have traffic associated with a 420-pupil school in these roads at the same time as people are trying to get out to work, at the same time as carers are trying to come to look after elderly residents, at the same time as refuse lorries, and deliveries to the Marriott.”

The residents have analysed official birth and admissions data gathered through public meetings, Freedom of Information requests and other sources, but they cannot see the need for a new school.

The only confirmed bidder to run the school is the Diocese of Bristol, which already runs King William Street Primary School in Old Town. The school announced in its May newsletter that it has extra places in all year groups.

Kareen says she has heard from “pretty reliable sources” that there are plans to close King William Street, which she believes would account for the demand for school places in the area the council is predicting. The diocese denies the claims.

Kareen said: “As I looked at the numbers and the numbers didn’t make sense, I tried to understand what the rationale would be for the school.

“There have been rumours regarding King William Street school moving to the site, thereby releasing the King William Street site, which abuts the Stagecoach depot, and thereby freeing that land up for development.”

Last month, residents invited councillors and officers to a public meeting to watch a presentation on their findings, explain the need for the school, and address concerns.

However no one from the council attended.

In an email to Kareen, council leader Rod Bluh said: “The council has engaged in extensive and on-going consultation with residents. Whether this is sufficient to please everyone is a matter of subjective judgement and it is clear you and I are not going to agree.”

Claire Bouverie-Brine, an administration and IT manager, who has lived in Marlborough Lane for 18 years, said she would consider moving if the project is approved.

She said: “I love living where I live. I have been there a long time, we have brought our children up there, but they have really pushed it too far this time, especially in not coming to the meeting.”

Swindon Council’s planning committee will consider the application but a date has not yet been set. Residents have distributed about 500 letters to encourage people to object to the planning application.

See the council’s website, www.swindon.gov.uk, for details on how to have a say, although the official deadline has now passed.