Councillors have approved a financial package that could permanently increase the number of places available at Beaumont School in St Albans.

Demand for places at the secondary school is so high that this year they received 1,285 Year 7 applications –  more than six applications for every place available.

As a result those pupils who start in September will live within 660-metres of the Austen Way school.

Although Beaumont can officially offer just 210 Year 7 places, since 2022 it has been asked to take an extra class of 30 new pupils on a temporary basis.

The plans – approved by a meeting of the county council’s cabinet on Tuesday (July 9) – are designed to enable a permanent increase in the number o Year 7 places available, from 210-a-year to 240.

In making the case for the capital funding, Cllr Clapper highlighted the “high demand” for places in this specific part of St Albans – as well as the £28million that had already been invested to increase capacity at schools in St Albans.

She pointed to new housing developments – as well as numbers of residents relocating to the area from Hong Kong and Ukraine - and said higher demand specifically in the area around Beaumont School had led to this localised pressure.

She said the funding would enable the county to enter into a funding agreement with the Department for Education (DfE).

That’s because the DfE is already delivering a rebuilding project at the school, designed to invest in the overall site.

The additional funding will enable the expansion of the school to go ahead alongside existing plans to re-provision of facilities.

Details of funding required to provide the additional facilities at the site have not been published – and were not discussed at the meeting.

But it was agreed that it could include up to £51,921 of funding from Section 106 agreements, which are funds collected from developers in order to mitigate the impact of a particular development on an area.

At the meeting executive member for resources and performance Cllr Bob Deering said the financial situation at the council was “a permanent challenge”.

But – pointing to the high proportion of the county’s schools judged to be good or outstanding – he said they had been pleased to find the funding.

“This is a county at which you can send your child to school and be absolutely proud of the school the child will go to,” said Cllr Deering

“So everything to do with finance here is hard work. But we were very pleased to find the money.”

At the meeting the cabinet authorised the council’s director of finance to agree the terms of the financial contribution for the project .

Ultimately a decision on whether the school could expand on a permanent basis would be made by the Department for Education’s regional director.