Councillors will decide on a school’s future at a meeting later this week.

The proposals would see a year-on-year increase in the number of pupils that attend the Jubilee Primary School in Gatland Lane, Maidstone.

The school, which opened last September, currently has 89 pupils, but there is a planning application for a permanent school to take 420 pupils by September 2020.

Neighbours argue the road will not support the extra traffic and the site is not suitable for such a large amount of children.

Maidstone council’s planning committee is expected to approve the permanent change, but limit the number of pupils to 240.

Jubilee opened under Free School legislation that enables it to operate for 12 months without full planning permission.

Councillors first discussed plans in March, but were unable able to make a decision due to a lack of detail in reports.

Last month, the Kent Messenger reported residents of Gatland Lane had been left in tears and teachers said they had been victim to aggressive confrontations over ongoing parking problems, which causes gridlock during the morning and afternoon drop-off periods.

The school occupies Gatland House, a building that was previously used by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, run by the Kent Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership.

Free schools are run by teachers, parents or religious groups. They’re independent establishments that are funded by central government but are not run by the local council.

They don’t have to teach the National Curriculum and they have the freedom to decide on key strategies such as how their budget is spent, the length of terms and the school day, and the conditions of their teachers’ employment.

Free schools can provide primary, secondary, or 16-19 education.

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