PARENTS have welcomed controversial plans for a huge new classroom block and sports hall at a top girls school.o

Beaconsfield High School in Wattleton Road, Beaconsfield, has put in a planning application to build a 12 classroom block with a link bridge which will provide science rooms, a sports hall and changing rooms to replace 12 temporary Portacabins.

The plan would be funded by selling off a section of its playing fields to a property developer - an idea that has proved controversial with members of Beaconsfield Town Council.

The plan has angered councillors, but has been welcomed by parents at the school who consider the current set-up "cramped".

Karen Crow, of Hazlemere Road, Penn, who has a daughter at the school, said the new block was a really good idea.

She said: "It will be great for the children, they will have more space and it will be a better environment for them. They are a bit squashed there at the moment."

Diana Turner, of Kingswood Road, Penn, said the current temporary Portacabins had been temporary for too long.

"To keep up with other schools in the area, we need to improve the facilities" she said.

Another parent, who did not wish to be named, saw no reason why the school should not sell off land it was not using to fund developments on the site.

She said she could not understand the objections of the town council, claiming it would be "ludicrous" to object.

At a recent council meeting, Cllr Anne Main (Con, South Ward) said the development would be "a gross intensification of access".

Cllr Bernard Woolf (Lib Dem, South Ward) said the loss of a playing field in a prosperous town like Beaconsfield would be a disgrace.

"This is killing off the future, the school might at some point need to extend its playing fields."

Dave Preston, deputy head at the school, said: "The proposals for the development of the site are the result of a lengthy process of consideration and consultation by the governors.

"The area of school field that we are proposing to sell is small relative to the size of the site and is not used to support the curriculum."