New secondary school for Chelmsford gets green light

Essex County councillors have backed plans to create a new 1,200-place secondary school as part of the development of the county’s first ever all-through school.

The new school at Beaulieu in Chelmsford would provide an initial 900 secondary school places from September 2019, growing to 1,200 in future years.

There is expected to be particularly high demand in the area as a result of the growing residential development, where about 3,700 more houses are planned.

Together with an adjoining 420-place primary school and 56-place Early Years building, which have already been approved and are set to open for September 2018, it would operate as the county’s first all-through school.

There may also be the potential to develop a sixth form on the site at a future date.

Cllr Ray Gooding, Essex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, said: “Chelmsford is growing fast and our projections show the demand for secondary school places is likely to increase significantly in the coming years.

“We have a very strong track record of investment in new school places in Essex, which has meant the vast majority of pupils continue to be offered a place at one of their parents’ preferred schools.

“We will continue to spend the money required to provide the county with the infrastructure it needs to grow and are set to spend a further £230million over the next three years under our latest budget proposals.

“These plans for Beaulieu are particularly exciting as we will be creating the county’s first ever all-through school, and I look forward to watching the project develop in the coming months.”

Subject to planning processes, main contractor Kier could start demolition of the existing school buildings in September, with building work starting in February 2018 and being completed in advance of September 2019.