Fields earmarked for city secondary school

11-ACRE SITE NEAR BEAUMONT LEYS COULD TAKE UP TO 1,500 PUPILS

THE government has revealed where it plans to build a 1,500-pupil secondary school on the edge of Leicester.

The Department for Education (DfE) has earmarked an 11.6-acre site near Beaumont Leys for a free school, it has been confirmed.

Documents lodged with Leicester City Council show the Oadby-based Lionheart Academy Trust is being lined up to run the proposed Beauchamp City Free School. A formal planning application has not yet been submitted to the council, but the DfE has indicated a three-storey building is planned off Ashton Green Road.

The school is intended to serve the 3,000-home Ashton Green estate which is being built to the north west of the city in a project being led by the city council.

The area to be developed, near the A46 Leicester Western Bypass, is currently farmland.

A DfE spokesman said: “The proposed Beauchamp City Free School will help meet demand for school places by providing 1,500 places as a 10 form entry secondary school for children aged between 11 and 16.

“The school will comprise a threestorey building with a floorspace of approximately 10,500 sq m based on the number of pupil spaces required to meet demand.

“It will also include a sports block, cycle store, two artificial football pitches and a combination of soft and hard outdoor areas.”

No date has yet been set out for when the school, if it gets planning permission, might open.

The school will include a sports block, cycle store and two artificial football pitches

DfE spokesman