FORMAL plans have been submitted for a new school in Bournemouth town centre.

The proposals for the free school, which is to be called the Livingstone Academy, were unveiled to the public in the summer by the Aspirations Academies Trust, which already runs three schools in Bournemouth and Poole.

Now a detailed planning application has been handed in for the consideration of Bournemouth council.

The site for the scheme is the former police station and law court buildings in Madeira Road and Stafford Road.

The Grade II-listed coroners’ court building would be refurbished and become a sixth form centre, while the magistrates’ court and multi-storey car park would also be converted into a primary school and play areas.

The police station building would be demolished, however, to make way for a new five-storey secondary school block.

The academy would have places for 1,510 pupils aged between four and 19 years. When the school opens in September 2020, it will initially accept 150 Year 7 students and widen its intake to reception and Year 7 pupils in 2021.

As reported last month, Bournemouth council has drawn up £1.4m plans to increase capacity at four schools to meet demand caused by the borough’s ‘rapidly rising’ birth rate. Extra spaces will need to be created at four existing academies due to a delay in opening Livingstone Academy.

Noviun Architects, which has created a design and access statement for the Department of Education’s planning application, explained that re-developing the “redundant and decaying site” would create a “community-serving facility”.

“The proposed new school will provide vital spaces for local pupils in a central Bournemouth location, which is currently lacking school facilities. The potential for out of hours community use will also provide sports facilities in a central location, including the use of dining and main hall facilities.

“The school will also create 150 jobs for staff and administration staff, adding to the local economy.”

The statement includes a detailed description of the proposals. Due to the listed status of the court building, “the opportunity to make major alterations to meet the school’s needs is limited”, according to the architects.

“The building and its existing layout is not ideal for the use within a mainstream school, with some trust needing to be placed on the pupils to navigate sensibly between teaching spaces,” the statement reads.

However, the large court room would “work well as a seminar/lecture room for the sixth form pupils”, it adds.

When the proposals were first revealed, concerns were raised over traffic and parking. At the time, representatives from the Aspirations Academies Trust said their goal was to have as many pupils walking to school as possible, although their catchment area is expected to overlap those of St Michael’s School off Poole Hill, Malmesbury Park School and King’s Park Academy in Boscombe.

There are plans for just 20 car parking spaces, including one disabled space, on the school site, with an initial 100 bicycle spaces proposed.

A non-selective all-through school, Livingstone Academy will “specialise in the digital arts” and be partnered with a new sister school of the same name in West London, according to the trust.

They are being set up with Ian Livingstone, one of the founders of the UK computer games industry, and will aim to exploit links with the “growing creative digital hub around Bournemouth University”.