Long-awaited new £27 million Derbyshire secondary school officially cancelled by Government after over a year in limbo

The Labour-run Government has revealed that plans for an 1,230-space secondary school forming part of the Infinity Garden Village, bordering Chellaston, have been formally scrapped.

This comes three months after the Government said it was “minded to cancel” the scheme, which has formed an integral part of the garden village plan for more than a decade.

In 2020, Derbyshire County Council had earmarked the school as costing £27 million and that it had already had £19.8 million in funding agreed by developers to pay for the facility through approved housing developments in the area.

At the time, just £68,000 had been paid by developers, but it is now feared that the earmarked millions in funding will be retained by the housing firms.

Meanwhile, an approved 210-space primary school at New House Farm in Mickleover was also in limbo, with the Government minded to cancel that scheme too in December.

This limbo period has ended, with the Government confirming that the scheme is now back on the “pre-opening phase” list.

It now joins the planned 400-pupil Bolsover Sixth Form and a 210-pupil primary school at The Avenue in Wingerworth as schools which are now back in the pre-opening phase, as they were before the Labour Government’s freeze on future projects in late 2024.

Cllr Simon Mabbott, Reform, the county council’s cabinet member for education and SEND, said: “We made representation to the Government about our concerns if these didn’t go ahead and about the length of time this review was taking.

“I am pleased ministers have listened to our concerns in relation to the three new schools although it is disappointing, that despite strong support from local business and communities, the school at the Infinity Park Garden Village will not go ahead.

“This will undoubtedly have a knock-on effect on our ability to plan for children’s education in the future.

“For those going ahead, we now have some certainty and can continue our work with parents, schools, communities and partners to provide the schools that Derbyshire children deserve.”

Cllr Martyn Ford, a Conservative county councillor for the Etwall and Findern division, said: “I am obviously very disappointed for the residents who will need to find a school place for their children.

“There are already children in Stenson Fields who are being shipped to John Port (in Etwall) due to the lack of school places locally.

“I am really disappointed that the Government have not listened to councillors, the council or the MP. It is a real blow. We could now lose that section 106 money.”

Both the Infinity Park Spencer Academy and the 210-space New House Farm Primary School were last due to open in September 2027, having already been delayed from 2023 and 2025 respectively.

The majority of the 1,100 homes on New House Farm have been built, and work on the up to 6,500 homes on the Infinity Garden Village has been ongoing for years.

Long-held plans for the Infinity Garden Village involve up to 4,500 homes, with a scheme for 1,850 pending a decision for six years, and a new 2,000 addition (expanding to 6,500) currently being discussed by South Derbyshire District Council.

The previous Conservative Government had green-lit all four new school schemes in Derbyshire.

In October, the county’s Conservative opposition group, backed by Reform, had called for the Government to at the very least make a decision on the affected schools so they could plan sufficiently for the years ahead.

This was also to avoid the risk of Section 106 (money from housing developers) being lost and handed back to private firms due to the delays and the potential scrapping of the schools schemes.