A three quarters of a million pound expansion plan will see Cheapside Church of England Primary School doubled in size within a year.

After reports revealed no places left for primary aged children in Ascot this year, expanding one of the area's schools became a top priority.

The Royal Borough consulted parents, staff, governors, dioceses and community organisations earlier this summer, as three schools were considered for expansion.

South Ascot Village Primary School and Holy Trinity CE Primary School were both considered, while nearly 240 residents responded to the consultation.

Cheapside in Watersplash Lane was chosen as favourite by 55 per cent - while studies showed that building three new classrooms at a cost of 0.75million would do the trick.

Building a new school from scratch would have cost £5million.

The school can currently house 112 children with classes of 30 children incorporating age groups spread across two years. The plan is to give each year group is own 30 strong class - effectively doubling numbers.

Cllr Natasha Airey, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “We really appreciate all the feedback we had on this consultation and we know how important choosing a primary school is for parents.

"We always try and give as many families as possible their preferred school and this exciting new expansion project for Cheapside will allow us to continue to honour more parents’ wishes.”

The Royal Borough's ruling cabinet gave the go-ahead yesterday. But there is plenty of work to be done.

The borough will have to organise the lease of land adjoining the school owned by Sunninghill Parochial Charities.

The site is greenbelt so special circumstance permission will have to be granted and a traffic plan worked out to cope with parking issues.

Alternative plans to expand the two other schools - or even build a new one - might not be entirely dead in the water.

A total of 1,300 new dwellings are expected to be built in Ascot, Sunninghill and Sunningdale between now and 2030.

Meanwhile the council anticipates that these extra primary school places at Cheapside will be created in time for the September 2017 intake.