HADLEIGH is to get a third primary school - but it will not be big enough to ease the pressure on places a town leader has warned.A Suffolk County Council spokeswoman today confirmed that members of its development control Sub committee had approved the scheme.

HADLEIGH is to get a third primary school - but it will not be big enough to ease the pressure on places a town leader has warned.

A Suffolk County Council spokeswoman today confirmed that members of its development control Sub committee had approved the scheme.

The first phase of the new school - to be built on land off Boswell Lane and Red Hill Road - will provide places for 140 pupils aged five to 11, with an integral nursery unit for 25 children.

The school is to be designed so it can be extended in future to offer 210 school places, but Hadleigh county councillor David Grutchfield said it should be built to accommodate that many in the first place.

He said: "The new school will only be built to take 140 children, because of resources.

"We welcome it, but there are concerns about the number of places, and how long it will be before it is bursting at seams, like our two existing schools."

He said that more housing will be decided before Christmas, and predicted there will be a lot more parents looking after children at home, because Whatfield and Kersey schools are also now feeling the pressure.

He added: "This is a golden opportunity, and it seems wrong from my point of view, and a large number of others. This new school needs to be viable for at least ten years.

"We should make sure we build a school of the right size with more room to expand in future, but if we don't act now the surrounding land could be sold off for housing. Two hundred and ten spaces would bring extra support staff, and play areas, and be a bigger initial base to expand upon.

"When you consider the local plan and the fact that the population of Hadleigh could be up to 10,000 in the next census, we could be back to square one again and be asking for a further school in no time at all."

The new school will be built by September 2003, and most of the places will be taken by children of RAF families who move from Woodbridge to new housing at Hadleigh.

If there is enough cash, energy could be provided by a wind turbine set on a nine-metre high column, solar panels, and roof water could supply the toilets for flushing.

The idea prompted three letters of objection from residents of Boswell Lane, who listed more than a dozen concerns including a lack of privacy and noise.