MP raises issue of much-delayed Oakley Grove school in parliament
By James Smith
6th Apr 2023 | Local News
A local MP has criticised the "headache" caused for local parents by continued delays and rising costs at a new South Warwickshire all-through school.
The new Oakley Grove School is now set to cost Warwickshire County Council over £60 million - £10 million more than the original budget.
The school is expected to welcome pupils from September 2024, with students forced to study at Myton School in the interim.
And with the costs continuing to go up, MP for Warwick and Leamington Matt Western called for a debate in parliament on the delivery of infrastructure in new housing developments.
"South of Warwick and Leamington we have a new school being built. Thousands of houses have been built but the school will not open until 2024," he said in the House of Commons.
"It is massively over budget, they built it on the side of a hill on marginal land, as opposed to the heart of the community.
"Now parents have these delays and will have to send their children to other schools."
Since then Mr Western has taken to social media to say: "I continue to be deeply frustrated with the leadership at Conservative-led Warwickshire County Council, and also Warwick District Council who planned the area.
"They have failed local parents and children who moved into the area and were promised a convenient school, not continued delays that will disrupt their education."
Work began on the school at the end of 2022 and will meet the need for over 1,000 additional school places in the area with 4,500 homes being built at the Oakley Grove housing estate.
It was recently confirmed that the new school will be run by Stowe Valley Multi-Academy Trust which already has nine schools under its umbrella.
The ultimate aim is for the new school to meet local need by providing 50 early years places, 420 primary school places, 900 secondary places and further SEND provision across both age ranges.
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