EAST Lancashire biggest borough is to create 345 new secondary school places for 11 to 16-year-old pupils.

They will be at Blackburn's Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School (QEGS), Witton Park Academy and St Wilfrid's Church of England Academy.

It will cost Blackburn with Darwen Council £1.25million for the extra capacity for year seven to 11 children.

The moves comes as monitoring shows growing pressure on secondary school places in Blackburn.

They have been welcomed by the borough's Conservative opposition leader Cllr John Slater but he and lone Liberal Democrat Cllr Paul Browne questioned the lack of similar provision for Darwen where hundreds of new homes are being built.

Council leader Cllr Phil Riley said: "We monitor the need for school places closely and regularly.

"The council is responding to that. Currently the pressure for new secondary school places is in Blackburn and there are plenty in Darwen.

"We will continue to monitor the situation.

"There is money available in developers' Section 106 contributions from new housing in the town for education and we will bring forward new secondary school places in Darwen when necessary."

A report to the council's executive board meeting on Thursday by education boss Cllr Julie Gunn says: "A pupil place planning analysis commissioned in 2021 advised of a need to increase the capacity of secondary school places by 2024/25 to ensure that supply was available to meet forecasted demand based on the effect of larger primary cohorts ageing through the school year groups plus the impact of planned housing growth on secondary pupil numbers.

"The analysis advised that for secondary schools maintaining a 10 per cent surplus capacity across the borough for 2021 to 2036 would require an additional 810 secondary places.

"In 2020/21, secondary schools were within four per cent of their combined maximum capacity with the pressures being particularly prevalent in the Blackburn locality.

"Throughout the 2021/22 admissions year, some schools in Blackburn have increased the number of places they could offer on a temporary basis.

"Schools estates are therefore already compromised with minimal capacity to increase pupil numbers further without extending or repurposing premises.

"If each project is approved this will create 345 new places across years groups seven to 11 in the Blackburn locality with a request for local authority (LA) capital funding of £1,249,700 to support these projects.

"If no additional capacity of secondary school places is created the LA may not be able to meet its statutory duty to offer a school place to every pupil that requires one as the LA cannot solely rely on the goodwill of schools/trusts to take additional pupils."

The plans for QEG’s free school in West Park Road would expand provision by an additional form entry of 28 per year creating 140 new places commencing with year seven expansion in September.

The £550,000 project will see a complete reconfiguration of one of the schools existing buildings.

Witton Park Academy in Buncer Lane proposes to create an additional 110 places at cost of £650,000.

This would see a refurbishment of the former Witton City Learning Centre to create additional class teaching spaces.

The £47,500 scheme for St Wilfrid's Church of England Academy in Duckworth Street plans to expand provision by an additional 71 places from September and a further 24 by September 2025.

The proposed refurbishment would create two additional classrooms and two small one-to-one spaces.

Cllr Slater said: "These extra school places in Blackburn are very welcome and necessary.

"I am concerned there is no extra provision in Darwen where hundreds of new homes are being built.

"These seems to mean that the new residents of the town will have to send their children to second choice schools in Blackburn."

Darwen East ward's Cllr Paul Browne said: "Once again Darwen is being left behind. We have schools in out town so why are they not being expanded especially with all the new houses being built?"