PLANS are being discussed to build a £30m secondary school in Grove capable of accommodating up to 1,200 pupils.

The school would be based at Grove Airfield to cope with thousands of homes proposed for the area.

Cabinet members at Oxfordshire County Council discussed the plans last night, when it was recommended a new secondary school and sixth form should be planned and built before housing developments at Grove Airfield and the north-east of Wantage go ahead.

A total of 5,200 homes are set to be built in the area, including 1,500 in north-east Wantage and 2,500 at the former airfield.

In 2007, it was announced a school for 600 pupils would be built, but that figure has since been revised after the Government increased housing targets.

In addition, the mixture of different types of homes on the Grove Airfield site has changed from original plans, meaning more families with secondary school age children will live there.

The plans also involve the current three-site King Alfred’s School being moved on to two sites and its capacity reduced from 2,250 places to 1,900. Currently there are 500 surplus places at the school.

Zoe Patrick, county councillor for Grove and Wantage, said she was thrilled at the news.

She said: “This is fantastic and something the people of Wantage and Grove have wanted for years.

“When the original plans for a 600-pupil school were announced I said it wasn’t big enough.

“Over the years, children in Grove have had to travel two-and-a-half miles to get to school.

“When my daughter was at school walking to King Alfred’s it was not good, especially with dark mornings and evening.

“With the proposed boost in housing this is exactly what’s needed.

“The other thing is that the community will be able to use the facilities, which will be a huge benefit.

“I just hope it will be built prior to any major development going ahead.”

A council report prepared for the meeting by officers said the school could increase to accommodate 1,200 pupils and would be based on a 10-hectare site.

Michael Waine, the county council’s cabinet member for schools improvement, said a new school was crucial to the area.

He said: “The idea for an even bigger school at Grove is our direct response to the plan for even more housing in this part of Oxfordshire.

“It would be a strong school that would help cater for the forecast additional pupil numbers.

“We very much want to work in concert with King Alfred’s School.

“King Alfred’s remains very much part of the equation in our future plans in the Wantage and Grove area.”

The county council will seek money from the Government’s Building Schools for the Future fund to help pay for the scheme to reduce King Alfred’s School.

bellery@oxfordmail.co.uk