A 223-year-old school which shut under a cloud of controversy is to be bulldozed to make way for a new secondary.

Permission has been granted to demolish the former Royal School for Deaf Children in Victoria Road, Margate, which closed in 2015.

In its place will be built Park Crescent Academy - a modern secondary catering for 900 pupils, which is due to open in September 2023.

A planning application was submitted by Kent County Council last month, and will likely be decided in October.

The authority bought the site following the closure in 2015 of the Royal School for Deaf Children and neighbouring Westgate College, which offered residential accommodation to deaf people aged 19 to 22.

They shut after administrators were called in amid concerns from the regulator and allegations of physical abuse.

In December of that year, the Care Quality Commission took legal action requiring residents to be moved for their own protection.

The same month, the trust which ran the school and college was plunged into administration, leaving about 500 staff redundant.

During a number of inspections, it was found that residents had been ridiculed for their physical and learning disabilities, with one allegedly having a hot cup of tea placed on their arm before they were goaded by a staff member.

As a result, a number of employees were suspended, some of whom were later dismissed.

It marked a sad end for the Royal School for Deaf Children, which was founded in 1792 as the first public institution to provide a free education for the hearing-impaired.

It opened a branch in Margate in 1876 and moved entirely from London to the Kent coast in 1905, so pupils could benefit from the sea air.

The existing campus replaced a former large Victorian building which had a prominent tower, with the majority of the current buildings constructed in the 1960s and 1970s.

They will be bulldozed by Goody Demolition, with its application to carry out the works approved by council officers this month.

The firm says disruption at the site - which is surrounded by houses - will be kept to a minimum, with no work taking place before 8am.

It said: “Start and finish times will be regulated to take into consideration the residents of neighbouring properties and to comply with any local authority implied restrictions.

“Noise from plant/machinery will, so far as is reasonably practicable, be kept to the lowest level possible.

“Due to the town centre location of the site, we acknowledge we have an increased duty of care to protect surrounding businesses and members of the general public during our works.”

Site clearance work has already started, with the demolition work expected to be completed by February next year.

Willmott Dixon has been awarded the contract to build the new school, which will comprise a three-storey teaching block and a sports hall on the upper plateau of the land.

Plans also show hard play areas, sports pitches and a multi-use games area on the lower level of the site, which will be open for community use outside of school hours.

The school will cater for an age range of 11 to 16, with no sixth-form provision.

The application states the new institution is required to meet the growth in the secondary-aged population.

To view the application, visit the KCC planning portal and search for KCC/TH/0155/2021.

News from our universities, local primary and secondary schools including Ofsted inspections and league tables can be found here.

Read more: All the latest news from Thanet