A prestigious boarding school in East Lancashire has applied to the council to keep a temporary classroom for up to another three years.

Stonyhurst College, near Hurst Green, was granted permission in 2019 for a temporary teaching block at the pre-school facility, Hodder House.

Stonyhurst is a Catholic independent school in the Ribble Valley countryside, close to the towns of Clitheroe, Whalley, and Longridge, which charges just shy of £41,000 a year for boarding UK students, almost £45,000 for overseas students, and nearly £25,000 for day pupils.

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The approval was granted for five years, which comes to an end this year.

The school said it still plans to build a more permanent structure, but the timescales have been delayed “due to the operational and financial impacts of COVID and inflation.”

It also said the temporary accommodation is “essential to enable continued sustainable business operations of the college.”

Stonyhurst submitted the same design and access statement to its 2019 application, along with an additional note explaining why it needed the extension.

The statement said: “This application is to renew and extend the consent for a temporary building, Hodder House, originally granted permission in 2019.

“This document accompanied the original consent and fully describes the proposed (and now erected) temporary building.

"The applicant plans to replace the temporary structure with something more permanent in the future. This is set out within the original design and access statement.

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“The timescales have been delayed from those originally intended due to the operational and financial impacts of COVID and inflation.

"The temporary accommodation is essential to enable continued sustainable business operations of the college.”

Earlier this year, the school looked set to offload one of its bunk houses in Hurst Green due to refurbishment costs.

The property was put on the market for offers in the region of £500,000 and described as a "picturesque plot ripe for renovation".