A NEW primary school could be built in the grounds of St Joseph’s Catholic College in a bid to meet growing demand for places in the central area.

Swindon Council needs to open a new 210-place school in 2014 and has just finished a public consultation asking for views on three preferred sites and suggestions of other possible sites.

The three options are the Broadgreen Centre, in Salisbury Street, the site of the nursery beside the Civic Offices, in Euclid Street, and empty land which used to be a council depot, just off County Road.

Now the Catholic schools in Swindon, backed by the Diocese of Clifton, have put forward a fourth alternative proposal to Swindon Council for a Catholic school at St Joseph’s.

The one-form school would be built on an unused section of the school field fronting Queen’s drive, between the ambulance station and the roundabout.

The proposed access, off the layby in Queen’s Drive, was formerly used for the old St Joseph’s Lower School, and it is anticipated that many pupils would walk to the school, which would be run independently of St Joseph’s as an academy under the umbrella of the diocese.

Stephen Lake, St Joseph’s chairman of the governors, said the school would absorb the core demand in the central area from Catholic families, for two or three years, while the existing schools would have capacity for the remainder.

He said: “What the Catholic community has done is put forward an alternative proposal to the three sites presented by the council.

“It’s felt it would be more beneficial to the residents in the central area, and would also serve the needs of the Catholic community whose schools are vastly oversubscribed.

“This is just a straight-forward proposal that a school is required in the central area, this is mainly for children from the Catholic community who want their children in a Catholic school.

“There’s a need to have a site which is acceptable to all people and none of the three sites previously identified are ideal. This seems to be both a better site and a proposal that meets the needs of the community. It’s a win-win.”

The council has also confirmed it has received an expression of interest to run a school on one of the original three sites from the White Horse Federation, which runs several schools and children’s centres across Swindon.

Coun David Renard, cabinet member for children’s services, said the Cabinet would made a decision in June to chose the site.

He said the site which seemed most popular in the public consultation was the former council depot, although quite a bit of highways work would be required for this.

Coun Renard said he would not be surprised if several religious groups decided to bid to run the central school, including the Church of England and Muslim groups.