More than 22,000 school places will need to be created and 22 new schools built across the country over the next decade, according to a new report.

Essex Council Council has announced its ten year strategy, Meeting the demand for school places in Essex 2018 – 2027, which outlines demand for places in each district, as well as identifying possible solutions.

According to the report, an extra 12,201 primary school places will need to be found by 2027, along with 9,915 new secondary places.

The projected figures do change over time, and the plan is updated.

Essex County Council spent about £74million creating 2,535 new permanent mainstream places across the county for the 2017 to 2018 academic year and plans to create thousands more in the years to come.

It is currently estimated that up to 22 new mainstream schools will be needed over the next ten years, while a number of existing schools will also need to be expanded.

Among the new schools in the pipeline over the next decade are primary schools in Basildon, Braintree, Brentwood, Chelmsford, Colchester, Harlow, Maldon, Rochford, Tendring and Uttlesford.

There are also secondary schools set to be built in Colchester and Harlow, and all-through schools in Chelmsford and Colchester.

Ray Gooding, Essex County Council councillor responsible for cabinet member for education, said: “We have an excellent track record of investing in new school places and spent about £74million creating more than 2,500 places ahead of September 2017.

“As a result, we were able to offer a record percentage of primary and secondary school pupils their parents’ preferred places for the latest academic year, which is an outstanding achievement in the current climate.

“Despite our successes, we recognise that the county is continuing to grow and a further 22,000 new school places will be needed over the next decade.

“We remain committed to ensuring Essex has the infrastructure it needs to grow and have outlined plans to spend a further £87million on mainstream school projects as part of our ambitious £300million budget proposals.”

The district breakdown of the figures shows the amount of places needed in each area:

• 1,235 new places in Basildon (1,085 primary and 150 secondary)

• 1,608 places in Braintree (1,008 primary and 600 secondary)

• 1,264 places in Brentwood (679 primary and 585 secondary)

• 257 places in Castle Point (217 primary and 40 secondary)

• 2,814 places in Chelmsford (1,589 primary and 1,225 secondary)

• 4,942 places in Colchester (2,457 primary and 2,485 secondary)

• 872 places in Epping Forest (217 primary and 655 secondary)

• 1,843 places in Harlow (693 primary and 1,150 secondary)

• 779 places in Maldon (504 primary and 275 secondary)

• 1,020 places in Rochford (595 primary and 425 secondary)

• 2,921 places in Tendring (1,526 primary and 1,395 secondary)

• 2,561 places in Uttlesford (1,631 primary and 930secondary)

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