Over £6 million has been ring-fenced to double the capacity at a Kenilworth primary school.

Warwickshire County Council (WCC) announced the proposed changes at St John's Primary School and Nursery earlier this year, and has already held a public consultation on the project.

The scheme could see the Mortimer Road school have "several new extensions", increasing from one to two forms of entry from September 2024.

This would boost the capacity by 210 pupils over the next seven years. 

WCC is also proposing to establish specialist resourced provision for up to 14 primary school aged children with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) that can be catered for in a mainstream school.

And now the council's cabinet has committed £6.335 million to the project, which will come from contributions from local housing developers and a Department for Education Basic Need grant.

According to a council report, 55 per cent of respondents to the St John's Consultation disagreed with the plans to increase its capacity.

"Of those disagreeing with the proposal, 75 per cent were not a parent or carer of a pupil at the school," the report said.

"The reasons provided were largely focused around highways and the potential impact of the increase in traffic on parking, traffic management and road safety on roads surrounding the school."

It added: "However, given its location to current housing development, existing site and build capacity and the likelihood that highways challenges and associated opposition would be presented if an alternative existing school site was proposed, it is recommended that the proposal continues forward to ensure the sufficiency of school places in Kenilworth town can be maintained."

The funding comes as part of £8.55 million in investment in education across the county, and will now need to be signed off by the full council.

Cllr Kam Kaur, portfolio holder for education, said: "Cabinet has used the remainder of the council's capital funding for the year in a diligent manner, informed by intelligence around where there will be increased demand and ensured that we provide places for all of Warwickshire's children. 

"Using the buildings intelligently increases the offer that schools can make, keep children with EHCPs in their communities and increase schools' offers to their communities.

"It makes our resources go further and have greater benefit." 

Read the full council report here.