Community engagement events have been announced to display the proposed plans for a new secondary school, to meet the increasing demand for places in Cheltenham.

In December, Cabinet gave approval to establish the new 900 11-16 place secondary school and funding was approved by the Council in February 2018.

Following a selection process in June 2018, the regional school's commissioner announced that the preferred sponsor for the new school is Balcarras School in Charlton Kings.

Evans Jones, Cheltenham-based surveyors and planning consultants were appointed by Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) to manage the planning process for the new school and are hosting the events, which are being held on June, 13 and 27.

The events will be used to display the proposed plans and supporting details for the school, which will be built on land situated at the junction of Farm Lane and Kidnappers Lane in Cheltenham.

The first event will give an opportunity to view the initial designs and site layout and the second event will allow attendees to view the final design that will be submitted for planning.

Event 1: Thursday 13 June, 4.30pm - 7.00pm

Event 2: Thursday 27 June, 4.30pm - 7.00pm

The engagement events will take place at Hatherley & Reddings Cricket Club, North Park, Shurdington Road, Cheltenham, GL51 4XA.

Representatives from GCC, Balcarras Academy Trust, and members of the design team will be present to answer any questions.

Evans Jones will submit a formal planning application to GCC later this year.

The current timescale for the opening of the new school is September 2021 (subject to planning consent) and the school will open to new Year 7 students only.

The school is not expected to take children in other years groups at that time and will take a new cohort of year 7 children each September thereafter. A more detailed timeline will follow.

David Jones, head of planning at Evans Jones, said: "We are delighted to be working on behalf of Gloucestershire County Council to bring a new secondary school to Cheltenham.

"There is a continuing need to increase the number of secondary school places in Cheltenham and the new school will help to meet this increased demand.

"We look forward to welcoming members of the community to the engagement events and will be on hand to answer any questions that attendees have on the final design that will be submitted for planning."

For more information, visit http://www.evansjones.co.uk or contact David Jones on 01242 522822.