An evangelical Christian independent school which temporarily set up in Reading two years ago is seeking another three years in the town due to difficulty getting planning permission in a village near High Wycombe.

One School Global’s secondary school campus is currently based in south Reading, on Arkwright Road, after the government forced it to leave its previous home in Stoke Poges.

The school is for members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church – a conservative Christian religion which most members are born into – and the planning permission in Reading allows for a maximum of 86 pupils and 18 staff.

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Run by Ealing Education Resources Trust (EERT), the school was forced to leave its Stoke Poges home by the end of 2019 after the government bought it, while a proposed new location in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, became “unviable”.

Proposals to turn a former horse-riding centre, owned by EERT, in Chequers End into a school were rejected in July 2019 by Wycombe District Council (now Buckinghamshire Council), which said it is “simply the wrong place for it” due to the rural nature of the area.

Chequers Lane in Cadmore End

Chequers Lane in Cadmore End

But the Christian organisation won planning permission in the same month from Reading Borough Council (RBC) to set up temporarily at The Quad, 14 Arkwright Road, Reading, for two academic years.

That permission expires on July 19, 2021, with EERT now seeking permission for a further three-year stay for One School Global at the former offices, which had been vacant for 10 years in 2019.

EERT said it had expected permanent school buildings in Cadmore End would be approved, constructed and ready to open in 2021 when it submitted the application for a two-year stay in Reading in 2019.

But the trust said: “Unanticipated factors have combined to frustrate that expectation”.

It added: “Strong orchestrated groundswell of local opposition resulted in a refusal by the planning committee on various subjective grounds”.

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The trust is now seeking an extension until July 19, 2024 in Reading to give it time to win planning permission and construct the school.

It says a range of factors has caused extensive delays and it expects to have to submit several successive applications to achieve its objective by steps, which is why it is asking for a three-year extension.

But the trust believes changes to Use Classes Order have strengthened its case and “a clear path to consent is now in view”.

EERT has been approached for comment.