PLANS to create more spaces at two primary schools are likely to be approved next week – but proposals for extra spaces at a third have been dropped.

Bradford Council first mooted the expansion of Poplars Farm Primary, Bolton, All Saints CofE Primary, Ilkley, and Steeton Primary School last year, and the public were invited to have their say on the plans.

On Tuesday the Council executive will decide whether to go ahead with the proposals, but officers have recommended that the plans to create an extra 15 spaces per year at Steeton Primary be dropped.

The decision follows news that St Joseph’s Catholic Primary in Keighley is planning to increase the number of pupils it can take on starting in September.

Members of the executive will be asked to increase the pupil admission number (PAN) at Poplars Farm from 30 to 60 in the Reception year, eventually doubling the school’s capacity from 210 to 420 over seven years.

The Reception admission number at All Saints’ C of E Primary School will rise from 45 to 60, eventually increasing capacity from 315 to 420.

If the expansions are approved, the Council will then look at ways of expanding the school buildings.

But executive members will be advised to postpone creating more places at Steeton Primary School, while additional monitoring is carried out on the demand for places in Steeton and the Keighley area.

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary will be admitting a temporary “bulge class” of 15 in September, and plans to permanently increase its PAN the following year.

Head teacher John Devlin told the Telegraph & Argus that the school had the space to provide extra places without the need for an expansion of the school.

He said: “It will allow us to better serve our community. In recent years we have had to turn away some Catholic families because we didn’t have the space.”

Councillor Imran Khan, executive member for Education, Employment and Skills, said: “We want to see all pupils across Bradford attend a school that is good or better and to do all we can to help parents and carers be able to get their child into a school of their choice.”

Not everyone has supported the expansion plans for Poplars Farm. Out of 52 people who replied to the consultation, 30 people objected to plans to create more spaces at the school, raising concerns over traffic, which they say is already a problem without extra places.

Councillor Rachel Sunderland (Lib Dem, Bolton and Undercliffe) has written to Michael Jameson, Bradford Council’s head of children’s services, and Julian Jackson, assistant director for planning, to raise similar concerns. She has called for the decision on Poplars Farm Primary to be postponed until a traffic management plan has been developed to look at how the nearby roads could cope with extra traffic.

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