Outdoor amphitheatre, games area and garden included in newly approved Bangor school plans

An outdoor amphitheatre, a multi-use games area and a garden for lessons in horticulture are among the modern facilities which will be provided at a new Bangor school.

Cyngor Gwynedd planners have unanimously approved an application to develop the former Victorian Ysgol Glanadda school site on Caernarfon Road.

The facility will cater for 200 pupils and will see children from the Roman Catholic Ysgol Ein Harglwyddes, Our Lady’s School, being relocated there.

The proposals will see the construction of a new single-storey school with 150 primary places, along with 20 nursery places and 30 for playgroup.

Built in the late 1800s, the original Glanadda building closed in 2020 and permission for its demolition has already been granted.

Our Lady’s had long campaigned to move from its existing site on a busy section of Caernarfon Road.

The plans state it currently operates within a “limited building and site” making “daily learning and teaching difficult.”

The documents state the existing building is “coming to the end of its service life” and had seen “continuous maintenance problems.”

Five classrooms will be constructed under the proposals, including one room each for the nursery and playgroup.

A 22-space car park will be created for staff and visitors, including two disabled parking spaces and two electric charging points.

The new building will measure more than double the surface area of the old school, representing an increase of 734 square metres.

Planning officer Idwal Williams said the design of the building, its size, scale and appearance was “suitable to its city location.”

It was considered increasing the size of the school, and encouraging the use of outdoor spaces may create noise.

However, as it will only open for a limited number of hours per day, officials concluded it would not cause any significant harm to nearby residents.

Planning officers recommended the proposals should be accepted ahead of a meeting held on Monday.

Planning committee members unanimously agreed, with eleven votes in favour and none against.

By Dale Spridgeon – Local Democracy Reporter