School permitted to extend despite traffic '˜bedlam'

The Rookeries Carleton Junior, Infant and Nursery School was also given permission by Wakefield Council’s planning department to create a studio and staff room, following the demolition of an existing classroom block.

But the blueprints were met with criticism after 19 letters of objection were submitted prior to the decision, including one from the Carleton Neighbourhood Watch Group.

They cited additional traffic on the school’s surrounding roads which some say are already impassable at peak times because of parking problems.

One objector, Julie Tennant, said: “Carleton is already bursting at the seams with school children.

“Plans to concentrate even more into such a tight geographic area, which is already struggling to cope, is ridiculous.

“At the beginning and end of each school day, the areas around the Rookeries Carleton Junior and Infant School are already total bedlam creating safety as well as statutory nuisance issues.”

But the school says the expansion would create up to 90 new and much-needed places at the Carleton Road school over the next three years.

A report by Wakefield Council’s highway officer accepted that traffic was an issue, but was over such a short period of time each day that it would not be considered as having a major impact.