School given go-ahead for cabin in forest

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A log cabin to protect pupils from the elements at a forest school in north Northumberland has been given the go-ahead.

The application, for the erection of a log cabin to be used as a weather shelter in woodland at Wooler First School, on Brewery Road, was unanimously approved at last Thursday’s (April 18) meeting of the North Northumberland Local Area Council.

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The proposal had sparked no objections, but it had to be decided by the committee as it involves a county-council development.

The proposed cabin would have a maximum height of about 4.5 metres and would be octagonal in shape with a footprint of approximately 18 square metres.

This type of structure would not ordinarily require planning permission, the only reason it did so in this case was because it would be within five metres of the boundary of the school site.

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However, planners said it ‘would be modest in scale and would be in keeping with the woodland setting and its surroundings’.

In response to a question from Coun Catherine Seymour, it was confirmed that no trees were to be felled as it is to be located in an existing clearing.

Coun Gordon Castle said: “Bad weather in Wooler is not unknown so a shelter is not unreasonable.”

Ben O'Connell, Local Democracy Reporting Service