Wickford's rapidly growing Wick estate is to have a second new school.

The news comes just two weeks before Oakfield Primary School, in Wick Crescent, opens its doors for the first time to scores of pupils.

Work on a second £1.8m 210-place primary school, off Salcott Crescent, will begin in September 2001 ready for opening the following September.

Rapid steps are being taken after governors warned Oakfield will become over-subscribed within months due to the huge number of families moving into the area.

Local councillors have accused the county council of failing to properly survey the Wick to establish the number of school places needed.

Malcolm Buckley, a Wickford councillor and one of Oakfield's governors, said: "As far as we are concerned the sooner another school opens on the Wick the better.

"The Wick has expanded much faster than County Hall's educational experts had predicted, in fact more in line with what Wickford councillors predicted.

"There are so many potential new pupils coming in that Oakfield won't be able to cope alone. It's not good to anybody having classes that are overcrowded and we wouldn't be allowed anyway with the limits on class sizes.

"It would be a travesty for people to live on the Wick and have to go miles and miles to take their children to school."

Oakfield will take in 210 new pupils when it opens on January 6 and that number is set to rapidly increase to 360 with a proposed five-classroom extension.

Governors have asked that the school be allowed to take in 60 new children a year, rather than the usual 30, to cope with demand.

Mr Buckley said: "It is likely there will also have to be some use of temporary classrooms but even that won't fulfill the demand of the estate, hence the need for a new school.

"I very much hope that by bringing in a new school at an early stage it will minimise the impact on Oakfield and provide a decent place for the rest of the children."

A county council education spokesman said: "We have plans to build a second new school and the scheme is in the capital programme.

"We have the long-term intention of providing the Wick with two excellent new schools.

"It is always very difficult judging the number of school places needed. We have difficulty in borrowing the money needed for new places."

Members of the county council's education committee will discuss the new school on January 17.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.