Plans for first new primary school in Great Haddon to be approved by Peterborough council

Plans to build a new primary school in Peterborough will be approved next week.

The council says it will officially agree to establish the school in Great Haddon, a new township near Yaxley.

Great Haddon Primary School (GHPS) will be the first of four schools at the settlement, where 5,350 homes are planned as well as sports facilities and three shopping centres.

Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) cabinet will be asked to authorise the project and agree an initial budget for it at their meeting on Monday, 11th March.

Currently, £15m is allocated towards the project, made up of developer contributions (s106 money) and council borrowing, but the final costs are not yet known, PCC says.

The cabinet will also give council executives the go ahead to choose a contractor to build the school and a multi academy trust operator to run it.

While the council will pay for the school’s construction, it will be funded by central government once open.

The council also doesn’t own the land it’ll be built on, but has a legal duty to ensure school places are provided for children and young people in Peterborough.

PCC will also be involved in running the competition process to find an operator alongside the regional schools commissioner and their headteacher reference group before a recommendation is made to the Secretary of State for Education.

GHPS will have 420 places, with 60 children in each year group.

Two other primary schools will follow it, as well as a secondary school.

PCC says Great Haddon will support 9,000 jobs by the time it’s complete.

The site, which measures 5.25 hectares, is currently mostly open arable land, but building work on the first lot of houses began last year.

The masterplan for the new township was approved in 2018.