These images show what a new High Wycombe campus for Buckinghamshire College Group would look like – as they reveal plans for up to 163 homes across their Flackwell Heath and Amersham sites.
Buckinghamshire College Group revealed plans last year to consolidate its Amersham and Flackwell Heath sites to a new campus in High Wycombe town centre.
Now they have revealed more details about what they are planning to do across two sites on the corner of Oxford Road and nearby Brook Street, drawing up designs for their proposed buildings.
On Oxford Road, they want to demolish the existing shop and put up a seven-storey building which will include teaching space for English, maths, science and sport science, performing arts and music, creative arts and media, as well as SEND facilities, student services, a café, a gym and staff and student cycle parking.
On the Brook Street site, they want to demolish the existing building and erect a two-storey replacement which will accommodate the college’s construction and automotive courses and will also include student and staff cycle parking.
But for these plans to be able to go ahead, the college group needs to dispose of its existing campuses – one in Spring Lane in Flackwell Heath and the other in Stanley Hill, both of which are in the Green Belt – for residential development.
They are envisioning up to 66 new homes on the Flackwell campus and 97 on the Stanley Hill campus.
According to a new consultation website the college group has set up, the Spring Lane site will be 35 per cent affordable, will have car parking and electric vehicle charging, publicly accessible open space including a children’s play area, car parking for the sports pitch and new tree planting.
The children’s nursery on site will also be kept.
For Stanley Hill, 40 per cent on the 97 homes would be provided as affordable homes. There will also be tree planting, access from Stanley Hill, car parking, links to existing public footpaths, parking for the hockey club and more public open spaces, including a children’s play area.
A full planning application for the new college buildings in Oxford Road and Brook Street, and outline planning applications for Spring Lane and Stanley Hill are expected to be submitted this month.
Bucks College Group was formed when Amersham and Wycombe College and Aylesbury College merged in October 2017 and has over 7,000 students.
They say their current campuses are not “best placed geographically” to support existing students or attract new ones and have “outdated facilities” that need serious long-term investment.
They said: “Following detailed analysis, it has been determined that a new consolidated, purpose-built single provision comprising exemplary designed, efficient and sustainable buildings in High Wycombe town centre will enable Buckinghamshire College to appropriately grow its higher education offering in the south of the county and provide a learning environment that fully reflects the college’s high aspirations.
“The proposed sites for the college relocation in High Wycombe were chosen due to their central and sustainable location.”
If their plans are given the go-ahead, the new college in High Wycombe could be open for September 2024.
Residents are able to give their views on the plans, and see them in more detail, on a new website set up by the college - www.buckscollege-relocation-consultation.co.uk
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