NORTH Herts College has been granted planning permission to build a three-storey extension to house a new state-of-the-art science facility.

Stevenage Borough Council planning committee last night (Wednesday) approved a plan for a westward extension to the Stevenage campus to house The Da Vinci Studio School of Science and Engineering. The project has the capacity for 400 students aged 14 to 19, while an estimated additional 25 full-time teaching staff will be employed there.

The building would replace 39 car parking spaces on the site.

Objections from affected residents in Tippett Court and Rectory Lane citing loss of light, privacy and increase in traffic and noise had been or will be addressed by the applicant, council officers said.