Plans approved for 'catering pod' at Hartlepool school

Plans have been approved for a new catering pod in the latest part of a major development at a Hartlepool school site.

Proposals were submitted to Hartlepool Borough Council planning department earlier this year to install a new catering pod at High Tunstall College of Science.

Plans said the pod will be located near to the new school and sports blocks at the site, and comes after a new £17million state-of-the art facility opened last year which replaced around three quarters of the existing High Tunstall site on Elwick Road.

Council planning officers have now given the development the green light to serve students from the site, which has already been constructed.

A report from senior council planning officer Jane Tindall said: “The proposal is to support existing facilities within High Tunstall School.

“The application is considered to be acceptable with respect to the relevant material planning considerations.”

A design and access statement previously submitted on behalf of the school detailed how the site would be operating.

It said: “It is proposed that the catering pod will be open from 10.40am until 11am and again from 1pm until 2pm and will serve lunch and break food for students.

“Food is to be prepared predominantly in the main college kitchen and transported to the pod.

“Main items for sale will be paninis, sandwiches and drinks. It is operated by the catering firm- Hartlepool BC.”

The catering pod is the latest development in continuing works at the school since the opening of the new buildings.

The second phase of work has already begun, which involves the demolition of the old school buildings.

Areas that remain at the school from the previous buildings include the student support centre, and plans have been approved for a sports changing facility to be built as an extension to the site.

Plans were also approved in December last year for an artificial 3G floodlit football pitch to be created on land made available through the demolition of the school buildings.

Speaking at the planning meeting, Mark Tilling, headteacher at High Tunstall, said the facilities will help keep members of the community ‘safe and healthy’.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you