Epsom must have a new primary school according to councillors who accuse education chiefs of failing to adequately plan for massively increasing demand for school places.

Surrey County Council (SCC) said it has embarked on "its biggest schools investment programme in history", which will see £350m invested in creating 16,000 places across the county by 2018.

But, in Epsom, it has shoehorned 120 new places into existing primary schools this year and has no plans for building any extra schools in the borough - even though it is predicting it will need 60 more reception places next year.

St Martin’s CofE Infant School, in Worple Road, Epsom, has agreed to permanently expand to provide an extra class in reception from next September and SCC is still in discussions with headteachers for "another school to take a temporary expansion or 'bulge' class".

An SCC spokeswoman said there are also "further expansion plans" for 420 places across reception to year six in Ewell by 2015 and an additional 210 places at Stamford Green Primary School, in Christ Church Mount, Epsom, starting with an extra 30 reception places in 2015.

Epsom is already the most densely populated borough in Surrey, and is set to swell from 75,102 residents in 2011 to 77,900 by 2014, according to the Office for National Statistics.  An Epsom Council spokesman said 1,118 new homes will have been built over that period.

Already this year, almost one in four of Surrey parents failed to get their child into their first choice of schools in Epsom and Ewell.

But despite this there has been no moves by SCC to build new schools or for parents or organisations to set up free schools or academies in the borough, which has the highest-achieving schools in the county.

County and borough councillors believe that the borough’s schools are at bursting point and SCC must plan now for a new primary school as well as properly planning for the impact on secondary schools in a few years time.

Councillor Tina Mountain, who represents Epsom Town and Downs on SCC, said: "We are desperately in need of another school, schools are already bursting.  I am pushing heavily for this."

Epsom town councillor Neil Dallen said: "I’m very frustrated.  This problem has been coming towards us like a steam train and SCC have just buried their head in the sand. 

"All the building in Epsom has meant lots of new children in the borough.  Where are they going to go to school?

"We should not have temporary school places and Portacabins introduced at the last minute.

"We have needed a new school."

He added: "We have people travelling all over the borough to drop their children off at different schools.

"The Government said parents should have a choice of schooling but the only choice they have in Surrey is to take the one they’re offered, with many children not going their top three choices."

County and borough councillor Eber Kington said that while SCC’s expansion measures are "sufficient", a longer-term solution is a new primary school.

He said: "There are only so many additional classes which you can put into a school before you come up against space and quality of teaching."

Coun Kington, who was an assistant headteacher at a Wimbledon comprehensive school for many years, warned about the coming pressures on the borough's secondary schools, including the only two single-sex secondary schools in the county.

He added: "The track record of SCC predicting the future isn’t good. 

"We are not going to see a downturn in support for our secondary schools and I would like to think SCC has learnt lessons and will put provisions in place."

But Emma Smith, headteacher at Epsom Primary School, in Pound Lane, Epsom, which added a bulge class of 30 extra reception places last month, said: "In an ideal world, it sounds very good to have a new primary school but I’m not aware of a location for it.

"SCC has done everything they can within the restrictions they’ve got.

"My governing body would be open to taking a further bulge class next year but after that our site wouldn’t have the further capacity.  But Stamford Green will be taking three forms by then."

SCC said it uses a combination of "live birth and housing trend data, plus historical trends, to forecast how many school places we are likely to need in the future".

A spokeswoman said: "For primary school places we sub-divide each borough into smaller planning area and analyse where more places are needed ad where there are schools with empty spaces.

"For 2014 we have identified a shortfall of around 60 reception places in Epsom and Ewell. 

"Our analysis indicates that these places will be required in schools serving Epsom town and north Epsom.

"We are keeping an open mind about the possibility of building a new school if necessary but have no site in mind at present and await the outcome of the Stamford Green proposal."

Does Epsom need more schools? Leave a comment below or email Hardeep Matharu at hmatharu@london.newsquest.co.uk.

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