5:02pm Wednesday 27th January 2010
By Alexandra Barham
A NEW primary school will be built in the district in response to a growing demand for school places, Hertfordshire County Council education chiefs have confirmed.
Richard Thake, head of children, schools and families, told the Review that schools must be built in St Albans, Wheathampstead, Harpenden and Watford to solve the huge deficit of school places.
He told the Review today: "There's been a huge growth in the demand for primary and secondary school places across the county. We now believe that we will be having to build a number of schools across the county and obviously areas such as Wheathampstead, Harpenden, St Albans and Watford are showing huge, huge demand. It's likely that these schools will have to be located in these areas."
Over the next two years the county council will be identifying possible sites for development. However, the unspecified site will be on an area of Green Belt land somewhere in the area of St Albans.
Richard added: "There's frankly insufficient land in the urban areas to build what we are looking for in size.
"We're going to have to look at Green Belt and green field developments."
Parents calling for a school in the centre of St Albans are unlikely to have their wishes granted. Richard said: "We are not aware of any site in central St Albans that's likely to deal with the problem in the long-term."
Meanwhile, an expansion plan for more St Albans primary schools could be agreed, but Richard refused to disclose the schools identified for the scheme.
Mandeville Primary School and Bernards Heath Infants School increased their intake by 30 pupils per year this September with Bernards Heath Primary School increasing its entry from two forms of 30 to three by September 2011, admitting 90 pupils per year instead of 60.
But Lib Dem County Councillor for central St Albans Chris White, who also represents Clarence ward, fears the scheme, likely to cost in the region of £100 million, will plunge the council into debt. He said: "This is going to cost millions. The council can't sell property anymore - they will have to borrow the money."
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