Plans for a temporary building for a Wallington special needs school have been approved amid its expected move to a new free school in 2020.

Sutton Council’s planning committee green-lighted proposals for Carew Academy, in Church Road, for a new premises which would accommodate two new classrooms over three years.

However, councillors Peter Geiringer, Tony Shields, and Jill Whitehead highlighted concerns over the building's design while councillor Eric Allen raised questions about accommodating need.

Among her queries, Cllr Whitehead said: "You say the building will be of poor quality design, even if it is a temporary building for three years, why does it have to be a poor quality design?

"Can it not be a building that has a decent design?"

It was admitted by a council planning officer that the building was a "poor design", however, "its function outweighs its form" due to the growing need for special educational needs (SEN) places.

Andy Webber, the council's head of development management and strategic planning, also stressed the need for SEN places in the borough in addition to the fact that permission would only be for a temporary basis.

After Cllr Ben Andrew asked whether the council is happy the building fits the needs of its pupils for the next few years, Mr Webber effectively said it did.

He added: "I’ve been around Carew Manor [the grounds] and I know it has limitations in terms of the special needs of these children, so I don’t think anyone is pretending this is a perfect scenario.

"But the adjacency of this building, the way it’s designed, there is obviously disabled access provided to it – we’re happy, as long as the school is happy that this functional design is going to meet their needs."

Carew Academy is due to open a new free school in September 2020 following Government approval for the project, which would take in nearly 250 pupils.

This is currently being overseen by the Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and the new building would be a temporary stop-gap in the Carew Manor grounds.

Carew Academy principal Rob Watkins fielded questions during the meeting, and he was questioned over what would happen if the school was still using the temporary building in three years' time.

He said: "I can’t speak for three years into the future. At the moment the anticipated date is for two years when the free school would be ready, that’s something we’d be keen to work towards.

"But at the moment we’ve got parental requests for places in our school and we’re keen to support parents in terms of choosing the school that they want for their son or daughter with their additional needs.

"That’s what we want to meet at the current time."

Kieran Holliday, the council's head of pupil based commissioning, said a decision would need to be made nearer to the time about what to do next.

He added that it could mean coming back with a new planning application, but overall the decision would be made "collectively".

The meeting was held on June 6.