A special needs school has lodged plans to install a freestanding train carriage on its campus as a canteen.

Five Acre Wood School, in Maidstone, has submitted an application to the borough council to create the special lunch area at its Boughton Lane campus.

The compartment is set to be a Mark 2 Railway Carriage - one of the steel cars built by British Rail in the 1960s and '70s.

The carriage will be freestanding, and will be 19.6m long, 2.8m wide, and 3.5m tall.

Application documents add that the compartment will be “complete with new timber framed access steps and ramps.”

The planning application has been set a determination deadline of April 24 by Maidstone Borough Council, meaning it must be decided before then.

Residents can comment on the application on Maidstone Borough Council’s planning portal here, reference 23/500784/FULL.

The school, rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted, has 238 children aged four to 19 on its roll. It caters for pupils with moderate, severe, profound or complex learning difficulties, and autism.