A PRIVATE school which broke planning laws has been ordered to tear down one of its buildings.

Keble Preparatory School, in Wades Hill, was  given the green light to build a new changing room and cloakroom in 2014 – but this was built too high.

Enfield Council’s planning committee agreed last night it had too much of an impact on a neighbour’s house in Harwoods Yard.

Paul Ruocco, chairman of governors at Keble, an all-boys school attended by 220 pupils, said he was “sorry” for the impact the mistakes had inflicted on the community.

He said: “We were let down very badly by our surveyor, and we have parted company with that person.

“We had to carry on with the extension as it was as there was no alternative cloakroom for the boys to use when they returned to school in September, but we realise we have a moral imperative to find a solution.

“There are two extreme views, either to demolish the building or leave it as it is, and we cannot do the latter.

“We have worked with our neighbour as much as we can, but he has not been willing to compromise.”

The school offered to take down some superficial parts of the walls and skylights, but this was rejected.

Representatives of the school have met with the planning committee four times since 2014, in a desperate bid to find a way of saving the building/

Head teacher Jed McCarthy said: “Most of the boys live locally, we are a non-selective school, some of the children have special needs and there are others on 100 per cent bursaries.

“We are sorry if we have come across as high handed when dealing with this, but if we were to tear down the cloakroom it would put back our progress by several years.”

However Aaron Fletcher, whose Harwoods Yard home is most affected by the development, said it has made his back garden feel “like living inside a tunnel”.

He said: “We have been supportive of much of the school’s extensions and did back the cloakroom plans in the consultation process.

“Unfortunately it ended up being far too high and effected the amenity and enjoyment of our home.

“They proceeded in the full knowledge that they were going to have a problem, and it is unfair for them to play up the cost issue – this is not some impoverished state school.

“Their new plans do not reduce the size of the building, it is like taking the same size box and covering it with a different wrapping paper.”

His views were supported by the planning committee, who almost unanimously rejected the school’s attempted amendment, with one abstention.

Committee member Cllr George Savva said: “It is regrettable, but if we give in to anyone who says sorry, we may as well have no planning committee.

“We must put our foot down, and show there is a cut off.”

The school has the right to appeal the decision.