New £10m school on target to open in September

A new £10m school will open in September after construction works at the site were completed.

A topping out ceremony was held at the new Chapel Hill Primary School and Nursery, in Basildon, Essex, to mark the occasion.

The two-storey building is set to accommodate 476 pupils when it opens and will feature a special educational needs therapy room.

School leader Sue Jackson said it would become a "centre of educational excellence that is the jewel in Basildon's crown".

The facility was being built as a "sister school" to the over-subscribed Lee Chapel Primary.

Ms Jackson said it was on track to open on Monday, 2 September.

"The topping out ceremony marks the significant progress that has been made in building our new state-of-the-art school," she added.

The school and integrated nursery were part of a planning deal associated with the 725-home Dry Street development, in Nethermayne.

Outline permission was granted by Basildon Council in June 2013 despite 838 objection letters and a 5,000-signature petition.

In October 2014, the Green Action Group took a case to the High Court in a bid to halt the development but saw it thrown out by a judge.

Plans for the school were agreed in May 2023.

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