A PLANNING application has now been submitted for a new Thurrock secondary school to be built next to USP Palmer's College.

The site for the proposed Thames Park School is an area of green belt land situated between Little Thurrock and Chadwell St Mary, accessed via Wood View from the North and Marshfoot Road from the South.

Thames Park, which will be operated by the Osborne Co-operative Academy Trust which also runs St Clere's secondary school and a number of primary schools in the borough, will be a mixed secondary school for students aged 11 to 16 years, and will provide 900 new places overall for years seven to 11. There will be 180 students per year group, with class sizes of 30 students.

The cost of building the new school is being met by the Department for Education (DoE).

Thurrock Council and the DoE have identified the land at Chadwell Road as the only suitable and available location to deliver the Thames Park Secondary School.

The planning application says the school is sustainably located within its target catchment, sitting centrally between its feeder primary schools in Little Thurrock and Chadwell St Mary, and is within two miles of Grays town centre.

The application adds: "The proposed building has a layout that is legible and easy to use, and maximises the quality and variety of external spaces. It builds on the neighbouring context; being sympathetic to the character of Palmer's College next door, while creating a strong modern identity for itself that can be shared by all."

Subject to planning permission, the school will open in its permanent site for the September 2022 intake. The school opened for the first Year 7 intake in temporary accommodation last month in buildings formerly used by South Essex College in Grays.

Thames Park has been in the planning stages for several years and was one of two new secondary schools planned in conjunction with Thurrock Council.

The other, Orsett Heath Academy, has been shrouded in delays and controversy. It also recently opened its doors to Year Seven pupils in a newly constructed building at Thurrock Rugby Club in September, but there has been little public progress about plans for the main school site since a proposal to build on the club's junior rugby pitches met with severe local opposition when first mooted in 2019.

The full application for the new Thames Park school and an opportunity to comment can be found found here with the full planning and design statement here.