THE CHAIRMAN of Grove Parish Council has spoken of her concerns after the group which runs King Alfred's Academy in Wantage was granted permission to open a new 1,000-pupil school in the village.

June Stock has vowed that she and her fellow councillors will take every opportunity to try to voice residents' concerns about the Vale Academy Trust (VAT) running the new academy for two-to-16-year-olds.

The Department for Education announced on Wednesday it had given the VAT permission to open and run the new Church of England all-through school.

The VAT announced it planned open the free school in September. The site is expected to be on the former Grove Airfield, which has planning permission for 2,500 homes and a school, but that decision will be taken by DfE.

Like the other schools in the trust, the new school will have its own headteacher, governors, standards and curriculum, though will share costs on catering, school supplies and teacher training with the rest of the trust.

But it comes after years of opposition from some Grove parish councillors who fear that the VAT – which now runs King Alfred's Academy, five schools in Wantage and Grove and Larkmead secondary school in Abingdon – is gaining a monopoly on education in the area.

Mrs Stock said: "It always concerned us that King Alfred's would be running it because it means there's no competition between the schools.

"It may be well-liked but there are a few problems.

"There is a big focus on sports there, for example, but we wanted to bring in a school which was technically-based because we're in an area with lots of science and technology and that's where the jobs are."

Chief executive of the VAT and former King Alfred's headteacher Simon Spiers stressed that the plans for the school were still a 'blank piece of paper' and urged parish councillors and villagers to help plan it.

He said: "We are really delighted with the decision and there is excitement about working with the Grove community on planning what the new school will be like.

"We have to stress that this school is still almost entirely a blank piece of paper so we're in a really exciting period."

He said the trust was planning to hold a series of public consultation events this autumn.

Speaking about the parish council's concerns, he said: "It is clear that a number of stakeholders such as the DfE, Oxfordshire County Council, the local church and many parents have supported our application: if the parish council continue to object to our plan it would be disappointing and in our view wouldn't reflect the views we are picking up on the ground ourselves.

"We are always open to working with the parish council in the future."

He also stressed that the DfE go-ahead was good news for Grove.

Oxfordshire County Councillor for Grove and Wantage Zoé Patrick agreed and said she was baffled by some parish councillors' worries.

Mrs Patrick, who is also a governor at Charlton Primary School which is in the VAT, said: "I can't understand the view that the parish councillors hold because this is supposed to be a stand-alone school with its own headteacher.

"I have been campaigning for a new school for Grove for as long as I can remember and finally it looks as if it may happen.

"It's not empire-building, that is a misunderstanding – this is good news for Grove."

The trust hopes the new school could open to nursery children and year sevens in 2019.