PLANS to expand Norton Primary School to a second £4.5m site have been “overwhelmingly supported” by the community.

North Yorkshire County Council is proposing to build an additional school at Brooklyn, in Langton Road, after an increase in pupil numbers by more than 100 in the last four years.

A public meeting, organised by the authority as part of the consultation exercise, was told the current school, in Grove Street, now had about 500 pupils leading to increasing pressures on facilities.

Suzanne Firth, the county’s strategic planning officer, said the council needed to act now to accommodate the predicated growth in numbers, both in the immediate future and long term.

“The school has indicated that it can adapt at present to provide the additional spaces needed, but we will soon be at full capacity and we need to be in a position to respond to that by September 2017,” she said.

“Given the timescale, we have been looking at sites already owned by the county council, including Brooklyn which is of close proximity to the existing school and is ideally situated in the catchment area.”

Mrs Firth said two options were available, a new school, which would be a sponsored academy, or a second site to the existing school, which was the preferred option.

The school would have the same headteacher, governors and leadership team and initially provide places for up to 630 children aged three to 11, with the capacity to cater for 840 pupils if needed in the long-term.

Purpose-built accommodation for nursery through to Year 2 would be provided at the Brooklyn site, while accommodation for Years 3 to 6 would remain on the existing main school site.

Costs of developing the site have yet to be evaluated, but based on other projects are estimated to be about £4.5m. Capital funding would be provided by central Government, along with developer contributions from any new housing developments in the town.

Headteacher Liz Parker said that while there would be “teething problems”, the children would always come first.

“We will be working closely with parents, particularly those who will have children at both sites, by opening earlier and providing a walking bus between the two schools which would be run by staff,” she said.

“The school ethos is to work together as a team and we will maintain that by ensuing both sites come together as often as possible.”

The meeting was told that consideration would be given to the community organisations which currently use the Brooklyn site, including the Brownies and Guides.

The consultation runs until February 27, with a decision expected in March. If approved a planning application would be submitted in the summer with work scheduled to start on the new school site in 2016.

Go to northyorks.gov-uk/nortonpupilplaces