PLANS by a Maidstone primary school to run a pre-school nursery in a temporary hut have been given the go-ahead by county councillors despite complaints from residents.

The Archbishop Courtenay Primary School faced opposition to its plans to use a mobile classroom for the nursery on its Tovil site.

Some residents had complained the school was going back on pledge to remove the 30-foot long building from the school’s infant base at Church Road by the end of this month.

The mobile classroom has been in place for 12 years and although it was given temporary planning permission in 2004, that is due to expire on October 31.

The school is due to move to a new site Eccleston Road, bringing the junior and infant classes together. In the meantime, the school said it wanted to continue to provide a nursery until that happens.

Members of Kent County Council’s planning committee were told by school head Marion Brooks that the nursery was vital. "I want the school to be part of the community. Families in Tovil need us...please let us continue."

Maidstone South county councillor Alan Chell (Con) backed residents, saying they had put up with their homes being overlooked for too long. "The school should have acted more responsibly and not put something on the site when planning permission for it ends on October 31," he said.

But neighbouring Maidstone county councillor Paulina Stockell (Con) argued the school should be allowed to carry on until it moved to its new home.

She said: "I do not think this is the school’s fault. I would have thought it made sense to extend it until they moved to a new school, whether it be for a year or 18 months."

County planning chiefs had recommended the application to keep the mobile classroom should be rejected.

But the committee voted for it to be allowed to stay until the end of 2008.