Plans to install nest boxes, gaps in fences for hedgehogs and bat boxes as part of the new Firside Junior School have been approved by Broadland District Council.

The authority had already given the green light to demolish the old school on the site and replace it with a newer building in April last year.

However, planners said that development could not progress past slab level until details of biodiversity enhancements were approved.

Firside Junior School. (Image: Newsquest)

Plans to replace the school, in Middletons Lane in Hellesdon, with a larger, carbon-neutral building, were unveiled three years ago, after the site was included in a major government rebuild scheme.

However, while the aim was to have the project complete by September 2024, a series of complications saw the project stuck in planning limbo.

The original school was built in 1937.

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