KING Edward VI School is selling a parcel of land at its Stratford sports field for £1.25million.
The land at the Manor Road site is being sold as a housing ‘development opportunity’ to take ‘a number of quality houses’. It is understood six homes could be built on the site.
Shakespeare’s former school is selling the land to raise cash to help fund ambitious plans for a state-of-the-art sporting hub announced earlier this year.
The plans include installing a floodlit artificial hockey pitch which can be converted into 12 tennis courts during the summer months.
The 1971 listed pavilion would also be modernised with the outdated communal changing and shower areas replaced by four new changing rooms with individual shower cubicles and toilet facilities, as well as a first aid room.
The facilities, for which planning permission has already been granted, would be used seven days a week by both the school and the wider community.
Previous attempts by the school to sell off part of the sports ground, which the school acquired back in 1927, have met with anger from neighbouring residents.
But headmaster Bennet Carr told The Observer he hoped townspeople would recognise the benefit to the community of the new plans.
Mr Carr said: “Since first obtaining planning permission for the artificial pitch in 2008, the school has explored a wide range of potential funding streams, including a bid to Sport England supported by our partners.
“Regrettably, all such efforts have been unsuccessful. The school is therefore investigating the possibility of selling a small, unused area of land to fund these vital improvements.
“The plan, which is significantly smaller than historic proposals, suggests a continuation of the existing housing line which lies outside the area used for sport. Overall the development site is 0.39 acres – a little over two per cent of the total area. Up to six detached, two-storey properties are proposed that are set back from the road to enable the existing mature tree canopy to be retained as far as is possible.
“The proposed development is an enabling act to deliver these new facilities, which we hope will be welcomed by the community as a whole.”
Offers are being accepted from potential buyers until October 3.
