PLANS to open a new free school in Great Harwood are moving forward with designs being drawn up for a building run partly on solar power and utilising the energy of staff and students to keep the lights on.

The application for the Evergreen School has been completed and is due to be submitted to the Department for Education over the next few weeks.

The plans, which were first announced in May last year, have received backing from Hyndburn Council.

Bosses hope the school, which will focus on science, technology, maths and engineering and have space for up to 950 secondary-age pupils, will open next September.

Trustee Vicky Bolton said they will offer a robust, challenging and exciting option for families.

The mental health practitioner said: "The real turning point for us was when Hyndburn Borough Council voted overwhelmingly to support our application.

"This is a huge validation of what we’re trying to achieve and it demonstrates the foresight of the council to see that before too long, a new school in the borough will be absolutely vital, as the need for school places will grow beyond the capacity of our current schools.

"We are an independent group of parents, professionals and educators who live locally and it is our dream to open a school that offers parents in Great Harwood another choice.

"This has never been a case of implying that other schools in the area weren’t up to the job of educating our children but more a realisation that parents are struggling to get their children into the very best schools possible, as there is so much pressure on school places, a problem which is only set to grow over the coming years."

She said they have been working with architects Cuniff Design and hope to have a school that runs largely on solar power and uses an 'ingenious' rainwater harvesting system.

It will utilise futuristic Pavegen technology and underfloor panels to capture the kinetic energy of the pupils and staff as they move around the building and turns it into usable power while also providing outside space for food growing.

Lead trustee and proposed chair of governors, Andy Moore said once the application was approved they would be carrying out a significant consultation with the public on where the building will be.

He said: "We are not a large academy chain moving into a new area and imposing a huge building project on a town. We are a small, independent group of people who live locally, trying to do the best by our community.

"People will always have questions and concerns when talking about a project of this size and importance, so the feelings of the people of Great Harwood are of paramount importance to us."