Assurances that a new sports pitch will not contain potentially toxic materials have been made by a Croydon school.

The Minster Junior School wants to build a 3G pitch along with fencing and lighting at the school in Warrington Road.

It has raised £200,000 for the pitch and has now submitted an amended version of a planning application to Croydon Council.

The school’s business manager, Andrea Lee, said that the initial application submitted in the summer did not state that the artificial sports pitch will be sand based.

This concered some nearby residents, including David Kelly of St Leonard’s Road, who was worried if rubber crumb was used it could be a cancer risk.

Mrs Lee said: “We were never going to have the rubber pitch, it was something we specifically asked not to have just because of the mess it creates.”

The plans are also for 10m floodlights to be installed which would not be on later than 8pm each day.

“The very, very latest they woukd be on is 8pm and that would be on rare occasions,” said Mrs Lee.

“Really, they are playing school games – the latest they are going to finish at is 5.30pm.

“One of the other things is if there are any small gaps along the fences, we’re going to plant more foliage.

“We really don’t want this to impact on the other residents other than, possibly, in the future, they would be able to use the pitch.

“We don’t want to work against people. I am more than happy for anyone to talk to me about what is going on.”

Public consultation on the plans has been extended until November 28.