New Southend primary school ruled out (From Southend Standard)

New Southend primary school ruled out

5:10pm Thursday 25th October 2012 in News

A NEW primary school in Southend has been effectively ruled out as an option for dealing with the town’s baby boom.

Southend Council desperately needs to increase the number of primary school places on offer to cope with a rocketing increase in births over the last few years.

But the Echo understands bosses have all but scrapped the idea of building a new school because Government legislation means they would lose control of it as soon as it was completed.

James Courtenay, the Tory councillor responsible for education, said: “My primary concern about building a new school is it does not offer the flexibility that could be needed if the birth rate were to change again in future years.

“We do not want to build something if the need - and therefore the funding - is not there in the future.”