A new Nottingham school with more than 1,000 spaces will be built despite concerns it looks like a 'prison'. Demolition work has been under way at Nottingham College’s former Clarendon campus off Mansfield Road since August 2022 in preparation for the construction of a 1,200 place new secondary school called Bluecoat Trent, which has now been given the go-ahead by Nottingham City Council's planning committee.
The plans were devised after Nottingham College moved to a new city hub and transferred ownership of the Clarendon building to LocalEd, the arms-length property company of the Department for Education. More than £5 million in council grants will be used to build the new secondary school, despite some councillors comparing its design to a prison at the November 23 planning committee.
In the meeting, Councillor Angela Kandola, Labour representative for the Berridge ward, argued the building "looks like a prison". In response the committee was told at the end of the day "it is a school" which is being delivered on a budget.
