DURAND Academy Trust has submitted another planning application to the South Downs National Park Authority for the expansion of its boarding school at St Cuthman’s in Stedham.

The new proposals are for the current primary academy to expand to become an all-through academy to provide new teaching and boarding accommodation for the upper school together with related infrastructure and improvement.

Previous plans to build a £22m state boarding school for children from inner-city London were refused planning permission in December 2013.

A spokesman for the South Downs National Park Authority said at the time that the 375-pupil Durand Academy was too big and its impact on the landscape would be “inappropriate”.

Currently, there are eight teaching staff and 87 pupils at the boarding school who are being transported from inner-city London to St Cuthman’s by two 50-seat coaches, arriving on Monday mornings and departing on Friday afternoons.

The proposed expansion includes the construction of temporary, pre-fabricated classrooms and accommodation blocks for an additional 48 pupils and two teachers.

The temporary buildings are scheduled to be completed for the start of the new school year in September while the Trust develop an estate plan for the site.

Durand Academy Trust and its associated charity, Durand Education Trust, which owns the St Cuthman’s site, are currently under investigation by the Charities Commission and Durand Academy is currently subject to a Department for Education financial notice to improve.

On July 4, the Education Funding Agency issued Durand Academy with a notice of provisional intention to terminate the Trust over use of public money and governance.

The funding agency issued Durand Academy Trust with a list of final demands, some of which must be met by August 1, if the school is to continue operating under its existing contract, after it was found to have breached its funding agreement.

The agency letter was addressed to Sir Greg Martin, chairman of governors of the academy trust and Durand Academy, who also has shareholdings in a number of other companies, including London Horizons and GMG Management Resource (UK).

It accuses the academy of not meeting the conditions and requirements set out in the funding agreement between the Secretary of State and the Trust, and being in material breach of the funding agreement, as well as a conflict of interest surrounding its association with the education trust,?which owns land occupied by the academy in Lambeth.

The funding agency conditions require that by August 1 no director of the Trust is also a director of the education trust and that Sir Greg Martin resigns as chairman of governors, director and trustee of Durand Academy Trust – or any other position within the trust.

London Horizon runs the school’s leisure facilities and after resigning as head from the school last year, Sir Greg faced criticism by MPs for having been paid more than £400,000 in management fees by the school through the company.

In addition, the funding agency requires executive headteacher Mark McLaughlin to resign from any position within the education trust, London Horizons or “any company of which Sir Greg Martin is a director or has a shareholding of over five per cent” – also by August 1.

Mr McLaughlin is currently a director of the education trust, Durand Academy Trust and London Horizons.

The funding agency has also ordered Durand Education Trust to repay £1.8m of the £2m transferred to it by the Durand Academy Trust in 2013.

By August 29, the Government requires the Trust to take appropriate steps and make suitable arrangements to appoint two new directors or trustees who have “no previous connection” with the school or the trust and evidence of their skills must be passed to regional schools commissioner Dominic Herrington.

The future of St Cuthman’s School, England’s first free boarding school, would be strongly affected should the trust’s funding agreement be terminated.

The school’s 87 inner-city children get free boarding, costing £15,000 per child per year. Durand Academy Trust made a £476,000 loss in 2014/15.

The academy’s most recent Ofsted inspection report concluded the boarding school “required improvement”.

The St Cuthman’s Campaign Group issued a statement, saying: “Despite these investigations into its finances and corporate governance, Durand Academy has submitted the new planning application.

“The principal issues with this application include the proposed expansion for temporary buildings, with no definition of temporary and no provision for the removal of the buildings if an approval for any subsequent, permanent expansion of the school is not obtained. The proposed pre-fabricated buildings are of an ugly design and will not preserve or enhance the landscape quality of the South Downs National Park.

“It is not clear what Durand Academy’s future expansion plans are for the site and it could be argued this temporary expansion merely represents the ‘thin end of the wedge’ towards the construction of a school of a scale that was previously refused by the South Downs National Park Authority.

"Considerable uncertainties remain about Durand Academy’s ability to fund the expansion and operation of the school, given that the Education Funding Agency has withdrawn its previously committed £17m grant for the boarding school.”

Woolbeding with Redford Parish Council is expected to discuss the new application at a public planning meeting tonight, which starts at 7pm.