School hoped to be built in 2020 delayed again

Plans to build a secondary school on a new housing development have been delayed again, after the school was originally pencilled to open in 2020.

The wait for Darwin Green Academy in Cambridge has left some other schools in the city having to over-admit pupils.

Parents were told earlier this year a planning application would be made in August, but that has not materialised.

Cambridgeshire County Council said there had been recent "significant changes" to how the school would be connected to utilities. Developer Barratt and David Wilson Homes South Midlands said it was working closely with the the council.

Council papers previously said the school - in the northwest of the city where major development is ongoing - "needs to open in September 2020 if the council is to meet the needs of the new communities and avoid a shortfall in provision in the local area".

At least 95 more Year 7 places for September 2027 have been made available across four other schools - three in the south of the city - amid the delay.

It had been hoped the school would be completed in November 2028, with a possibility of a "partial opening" in September of that year.

But, with the August deadline missed, the council said it regretted to confirm there was an "unexpected delay" and could not provide an updated timeline on when a planning application would be made.

A spokesperson said: "Significant changes to how utility service connections will be made to the school site, recently communicated to the council, have cost and timeline implications for the construction programme.

"We need to fully explore these implications before it will be possible to submit an updated planning application.

"We continue to work closely with the developer to bring forward this much-needed school as soon as possible."

Local Liberal Democrat county councillor Rory Clark said: "I am deeply frustrated that once again last-minute changes by Barratt have left families in the lurch.

"Families in Darwin Green and across Castle deserve so much better, and I will keep fighting as hard as I can to get the Darwin Green Secondary School built and opened."

A spokesperson for the developer said: "The county council are responsible for submitting the planning application for the secondary school at Darwin Green, and we will continue to work closely with them to help its delivery."

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