COUNCILLORS have backed a new £8.5million primary school on Portland to address the island’s growing educational needs.

Members of Dorset County Council’s cabinet have agreed to fund the Chesil Cove Federation School, which will replace the existing Brackenbury Infants and Underhill Junior Schools.

The new school is part of the proposed Portland Academy plans to transform education on the island and it is hoped the main building will be completed by the time Portland hosts the Olympic sailing events in the summer of 2012.

The site for the school off Castle Road will be leased to the council by the South West Regional Development Agency and will be able to accommodate 315 primary school pupils as well as a 26-place day nursery.

The council’s director of children’s services John Nash said the £8.58 million cost of the scheme was more than the authority would normally spend on a primary school but there were several contributing factors to the high expense.

This included the slope of the land and the possible need to fund a link road and pedestrian crossing, while SWRDA has also stipulated that the school must be built to a higher than usual standard.

Mr Nash said: “The aim is to provide a new primary school to serve the Underhill area of Portland, where we have an increasing population of children and a shortage of available land on which to build a school.”

He added that Underhill Junior School was ‘past its sell by date’ and there was a very real need for a new primary school in the area.

Cabinet member for children’s services Toni Coombs said: “We do have a growing number of children on Portland and we do need to replace the two existing schools.”

Mr Nash added that other sites had been considered for the school, but they all suffered from similar problems to the proposed site, which was deemed the most appropriate location.

He said the council would be required by SWRDA, Weymouth and Portland Borough Council and the 2012 Olympic Committee to complete the main shell of the building by the time the games started.

Mr Nash said: “If we can finish the shell it could serve as a media centre or cafeteria for the Olympics.”

Cabinet member for the environment Hilary Cox said she was in favour of the scheme but warned pressure to finish the main building by the Olympics could lead to spiralling costs.

She said: “I am naturally uneasy about the fact we are being so some extent pushed to deliver the project.

“The figures before us are by no means certain.”