PLANS to change the use of an office block into a secondary school have been refused by the district council.

South Bucks District Council planning committee turned down the application this afternoon, which was submitted by the Department for Education to change the use of Pioneer House in Hollybush Hill, Stoke Poges, from offices into a secondary school to house Khalsa Secondary Academy.

The application was rejected on highways issues submitted by Bucks County Council (BCC), on the grounds that the applicant failed to demonstrate provision for pick-up and drop-off demand, insufficient evidence had been submitted for the full implications of the application to be assessed, and failure to make adequate provision to allow non-car access to the site.

An objection by Environmental Health on noise grounds was withdrawn hours before the meeting, after the school provided evidence that the noise pollution from the site would be limited and Environmental Health said the impact on local residents would 'not be sufficiently significant for us to sustain an objection'.

Councillors supported the objections raised by the BCC highways team, and also questioned the u-turn by Environmental Health in a discussion which lasted for more than one hour at South Bucks District Council offices in Denham.

The application was unanimously rejected, with all nine councillors voting in favour of the officer's recommendation to refuse the application.

The site is currently occupied by the Sikh faith secondary school, that moved into the site temporarily in September for one academic year.