Would you buy a house if a school was being built near it?

[lotussw]

We have had our offer accepted on a house which had a piece of land opposite, we have had confirmation that houses will not be built on if but potentially a primary school if and when its needed. For now there are no plans but this could change.

Would you still buy?

We have a drive for 3 cars so parking will not be restricted but its more, the construction, then it being congested during drop off and pick up, plus noise as i work from home. Is there anything else to consider? Ive also thought about how it could affect the value depending on school rating of course.

Thank you :-)

Not if I could help it. I stayed in a house like this once. The bell rings endlessly. Big kids loiter at night.

Having lived near a school for many years prior to moving. Never again. Too much traffic. Children making noise walking to and from school. Often driveway blocked by people sat with engine running.
A total no from me. Sorry

I suppose the good things are no late night parties, no moaning & nosing about what you are doing.

Hopefully it will be peaceful every evening, every weekend, all summer & christmas.

Definitely not, people are so inconsiderate- parking across driveways so you can’t get in/out at peak times is a problem around me.

What is the land at the moment? I would be put off by wasteland, but not by a green where people could relax/play.

Any construction is annoying

Schools- don't underestimate noise. I've lived half a mile from schools and can hear them from there.

I used to live opposite a primary school and I really liked it. Peace and quiet in the evenings and at weekends, and when I was off work sick I enjoyed listening to the children playing.

DM lives next to a First School and while the children don't tend to loiter around after school (because they're aged 3 to 9), the parking and the congestion is awful. 8.30 to 8.55am for whole school drop off, 11.30 to 12pm for morning nursery pick up and afternoon nursery drop off, and then 2.45 to 3.15 for whole school collection. Even when people aren't blocking her drive, the road is crammed with cars, many of them badly parked, and almost impossible to drive down. At certain times of the year - school concerts, Christmas/summer fair, sports day, awards assemblies, etc - the cars will be there for several hours while all the kids are in the school.

It depends what size of school it would be likely to be. From my garden you can see both a primary and secondary school and I don't notice any noise. Sometimes at night I can hear football being played but it's not noisy enough to disturb me in any way.

I if it was likely to be on a narrow road with parked cars it could get annoying but our road is only congested for about 10mins at 3pm and only really in the immediate vicinity of the school.

I live across the road from a primary with a secondary a little further up the road. It’s really not a problem. We’ve had our drive blocked once in 5 years and I wasn’t trying to get the car out so it was no issue. I thought there would be noise and litter but I don’t notice it at all.

I wouldn’t like it if working from home as the noise would bother me.

Also, are you sure it’s definitely likely to be a school? If it’s owned by the council, might they decide to turn it into a leisure centre, social housing or council offices or anything else?

Our last house was fairly close to a junior school (not as close as you will be to one though) and we vowed we would never again live near a school.

The inconsiderate parking was unbelievable. They would park on the pavement, across driveways. There were yellow lines along our road which were in force between 8 and 10 in the morning and 3 to 5 in the afternoon. They were only really put in place because of the problems with parents parking. Any resident that had their car parked on the road would move it during those times but parents would still come along and park there. I only ever saw a traffic warden enforcing it twice in 3 years.

Also parents would drive far too fast along the road

I currently live opposite a secondary school, but I would never consider buying near a school again. The parking situation is dreadful, the parents park on hatching blocking the sight lines at the junctions and on double yellow lines. They often park across our garage on the white line. The school has a sixth form so up to 8 small cars may be parked in our road all day, they throw litter out on the pavement.

We have had school trips leaving at 5am, theatre trips returning at gone midnight and PTA socials involving hours of loud music finishing in the early hours of the morning. They had building work going on for over 6 months starting from 6.30am six days a week.

Recently their burglar alarm has been faulty and going off for up to half an hour before a key holder arrives, including at 3am one night.

I would truly find another house.

We lived just around the corner from a combined infants and junior school for a while. It could be a nuisance around dropping off and picking up times, because of inconsiderate parents blocking our drive, but other than that (and we were mostly at work then) it was fine. It wouldn’t put me off living close to a school in the future, but I think I’d be more wary if it was a secondary school.

I work from home, the large primary school playground and field is 200yds away. I like the sounds of kids playing during the day. No noise at all at weekends. The traffic at drop off/pick up can be annoying but only if you have to be somewhere (which I don't usually). Only busy between 8:40-9:05pm & 2:30-3:15pm.
It doesn't bother me at all and if you love the house I would go for it!

We live very close to a site with three schools on it. There is not enough parking for staff, so the street is congested all day and at pick up times, which are staggered, it is a nightmare with people parking on corners, on pavements and driving up and down looking for spaces.
In addition the secondary school has buses. They also run trips in summer which sometimes involve coachloads of excited children waiting for coaches and talking at the tops of their voices early in the morning, and returning late at night.
On the other hand playtimes etc give a rhythm to the day which I quite like. And holidays are bliss because there are no shops nearby.
You also have to think about whether there will be football matches at weekends, which in our case isn't as bad as during the week, but still involves extra traffic.
And don't expect the school to care whether they inconvenience the neighbours or not.
Oh yes, and as a PP said, the burglar alarm, and some kind of delivery before 6am, which wakes us up in summer.

I live next to a primary school and it's no bother at all. The parents are told not to park or drive down our road. The top of the road has only been blocked once.

When working we didn't notice it at all. Being home we've hardly noticed it too. It's quite nice hearing the children play at break times.

No I would not, given the behaviour and lack of safe driving of some of the parents.

I would if it had a driveway

We've always lived close to schools and parking can be a slight issue but otherwise it's not been a problem.
If it turned out to be a decent school then that could be good for the value of your home.

Twizbe you are very lucky.
Residents near the through Primary on the other side of town have similar problems to us, if not worse, because the road it is on is narrower.
I also forgot those who arrive half an hour early to book their spot, and then run the engine so they can have the heating/Aircon on.

As long as you definitely have good parking and don't mind the noise of children playing during the day, which can be quite loud. Ideally not needing to leave the house between 8-9 and 2.30-4.0 when school drop off goes on. On the plus side if you have children the school run will be easy .

nosswith yes, the parents are a major part of the problem.

You said the piece of land was opposite you - does that mean a potential school entrance would be basically opposite your house, or would you be looking at the back of the school do you think?

I wouldn't mind facing the back of a school as street would be unlikely to be the focus of parking mayhem, but I wouldn't want to be right outside the front door of one.

@Twizbe I know the school near us asked parents not to park on the yellow lines in our road or over drives etc. They also put it in the newsletters from the school.

No notice was taken whatsoever. I and a few others took the registration numbers of the people who regularly parked over driveways, on yellow lines etc and the headmistress said it would be dealt with. Again, nothing ever changed