MORE than 20 new primary schools will be needed in Oxfordshire by 2031 to cope with a growing population.

It is predicted the number of pupils in reception to year six will grow from 49,855 last year to 54,936 by 2019/20.

But with thousands of new homes planned for the county in the next 16 years, including more than 11,000 in South Oxfordshire and up to 10,000 in Bicester, more schools will be needed.

Oxfordshire County Council’s pupil place plan includes up to 25 primary schools, with the potential for eight in Bicester, eight in Didcot and one in Oxford.

The authority has said that even more new schools could be required in Abingdon, Harwell Campus, Chipping Norton and Witney which have not been included in current projections. Oxford University education expert and county councillor Professor John Howson said new schools were vital.

He added: “There would be a number of issues if we did not build these new schools. It would not just be that classes would be over-full, but that children would have to travel long distances.

“We have got to have some new schools to cope with all of those children because otherwise we would have to find transport for them.

“Building new schools is a long-term, strategically sensible development.

“New schools can use the latest thinking in teaching and learning. In a new school everything is new and state-of-the-art.”

Professor Howson added that the county council’s plan meant the authority was well placed for the growing population in comparison to other parts of the country. Great Western Park Academy is set to open in Didcot in September 2016, followed by another school in the Great Western Park area in 2018.

Another six are predicted to be needed by 2031 as the town grows.

South Oxfordshire district councillor for Didcot West, Margaret Turner, said: “We do not want our schools being overcrowded.

“That would be the worst-case scenario.

“People in Didcot are absolutely concerned that the infrastructure must be there along with houses being built. When families come in they need to be able to send their kids to school on their doorstep.

“It is very difficult to expand existing schools because they do not always have the land.”

Under government rules any new schools which open in the county would have to be either academies or free schools.

County council cabinet member for education, Melinda Tilley, said: “Our pupil place planners are very good and they know what we are going to need. It is absolutely vital that people have schools nearby and they are not driving around the county. It is important to have the places we need.

“Some of the existing schools cannot expand. For example if you have a single-storey school in a village you cannot add a second floor because the foundations are for a single-storey building.”