COUNTY education bosses have ruled-out building a new primary school in north Whiteley because it would be too expensive the Daily Echo can reveal.

Consultants working for Hampshire County Council say that a lack of services to the 'Bunney' land north of Whiteley mean it would cost between £7.8m and £8.2m to build the new school on the site - around 70 percent more than the average cost of constructing a primary school.

The report says that the Bunney land has drainage problems and access issues which would force up the cost to build the new school from an average of £2,500 per square metre for an average primary to around £4,250 per square metre for the proposed Whiteley school.

Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Ken Thornber, said: "The County Council decided earlier this year to undertake a full feasibility appraisal of the Bunney land as part of its continuing commitment to providing the children and families of Whiteley with the new primary school they need and deserve. The feasibility study, which was prepared with the help of independent consultants, has now been finalised and states that the minimum cost of providing a school on this site is £7.8 million because of the difficulties of providing services, drainage and access to the site and the need for pile foundations.

"Building a school on the Bunney land does not represent value for money and the County Council simply does not have this amount of money available."