NEW schools and classrooms are being built to try to avert a school places "disaster" in Horley.
This week Surrey County Council confirmed that the Diocese of Southwark is expected to build a new 210-place Church of England primary school in The Acres.
But, with only 12 months until the school is due to open, the Diocese has yet to make a formal proposal.
And, in a blow to parents, the council said the school is only expected to open with one 30-pupil reception class. At a public meeting last year, parents begged the council to take on pupils from all seven year groups from the start to ease pressure on the system.
Council spokeswoman Joy Ridley said: "It is intended that the school will admit one class of 30 reception children in the first year and grow by one class per year to have a capacity of 210 pupils by September 2020.
"We have experienced a big rise in demand for places at our excellent schools and this surge is continuing."
The council, which has confirmed it will support a proposal from the Diocese when it eventually receives one, will invest £4 million to help build the school.
Meanwhile, the need for more junior school places could be met by Yattendon School, which is proposing to increase its Year 2 intake from 90 to 120 students from next September.
To accommodate the expansion, the Oakwood Road school has applied for planning permission for a two-storey extension which would include upgrading its library, school hall and IT facilities.
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council is currently considering the plans.
Finally, Meath Green Infant School in Kiln Lane has been given permission to install two temporary classrooms for the next seven years to accommodate new families moving into the town.
Surrey county councillors raised concerns about the shortage of school places at the last meeting of its planning and regulatory committee on August 5.
Councillor Ian Beardsmore told the committee they could not afford to reject applications from schools wanting to expand, even if they seemed to be over capacity.
He said: "If [Meath Green] were to come forward in the next year or two, in August [with an application for more classrooms] for September and we were to say it is over capacity, we are caught between a rock and a hard place.
"They really need to start planning for these areas now and start planning for other schools."
The increased demand for junior school places has been brought about by the growth of Horley Infant School, which expanded to take on 30 more students in 2011.
Parents who have fought to find school places for their children say the developments are long overdue.
Priestlands Close resident Nicola Blake went further, saying: "It is too little, too late. When I was finding places for my kids it was crazy, all the schools seemed to be putting temporary classrooms in.
"The biggest problem is there's all these new houses coming in and we are not getting the school places to match. It's a disaster."
