A school has received a bitter blow in its bid to sell off surplus land to raise millions of pounds.

Although the Billericay School has won permission for the sale, it seems certain to be blocked by Basildon Council which has given the land green belt status.

This means it cannot be used for housing development, slashing its value and proving a major stumbling block for the school.

Staff, parents and governors from the school, in School Road, lobbied the town's district councillors at the Billericay Area Committee, for support.

There, headteacher Sue Hammond told Billericay's nine Conservative councillors how selling the derelict former school farmland would raise vital cash to pay for ten new classrooms, science laboratories and repairs to its sports centre.

Charles Clarke, Secretary of State for Education, has given the school permission to sell the land and keep all of the funds raised.

However, Basildon Council leader Malcolm Buckley claimed the land could not be developed as it is designated green belt.

Mrs Hammond called on the council to rescind the green belt status, saying: "If we sell this land, we could receive millions of pounds in funding. We need to have the land identified for development in the new Local Plan, but at the moment it is green belt."

Mr Buckley, however, claimed allowing the school to sell the land for development would set a dangerous precedent.

He said: "The problem is that there is not just one piece of land like this in the borough. Developers will say 'if you can do that for them, you can do it for us too'."

Published Tuesday June 1, 2004

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