PLANS for a new £6 million school have moved a step closer.

Education bosses are drawing up proposals to build a new primary school at Chestnut Avenue in Eastleigh.

Now they have announced that the University of Winchester Academy Trust will be the new school’s academy sponsor and that the opening of the new school is scheduled for September 2020.

Hampshire County Council’s executive member for education, councillor Peter Edgar, pictured, said: “With demand for school places set to rise in Eastleigh, owing to the new housing development in the area of Chestnut Avenue, we have been planning for some time a new primary school to serve the development.

“I am pleased to hear that the University of Winchester Academy Trust has been named as the sponsor, and look forward to continuing our excellent working relationship with University colleagues to make this exciting new school a reality.”

The new school will be for children aged four to 11 and it will be designed to encourage community use, with a learning resource area at the heart of the plan.

The proposals come after the area south of Chestnut Avenue and west of Stoneham Lane has been earmarked for a major housing development including 1,100 new homes plus a community building, care home, retail and office buildings and car parking.

Professor Joy Carter, vice-chancellor of the University of Winchester and chair of the University of Winchester Academy Trust, said: “We are delighted to be named as sponsor for the new school and look forward to working in partnership with Hampshire County Council and the local community to bring our distinctive values-driven educational ethos to Eastleigh.“Our vision is for a school which will offer inspirational learning experiences for all children and nurture a lifelong love of learning and the ambition to achieve their potential.”

The county council will design the new school and manage the building project.

The school site is proposed to be handed over to the county council by spring 2019.

As previously reported, education bosses are also drawing up plans for another primary school at Boorley Park in Botley.

That comes after permission for 1,400 new homes and community sports facilities in Boorley Green, Botley was also granted four years ago.